Accounting and Finance

The Department is responsible for accounting and finance teaching at all academic levels, providing teaching on certificate, diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

Not surprisingly, given the professional community from which its members are drawn, it is the most homogeneous of all the departments in terms of the functional areas in which the members specialise - both in teaching and research. The Department conducts pioneering qualitative and quantitative research in a range of areas including equality, diversity,  inclusion and social justice in different contexts, sustainability and ethics in accounting and finance, accounting, business and financial history, corporate governance, corporate financing and regulatory issues.  

Research focus

Staff members are interested in various areas of accounting and finance undertaking research with an interdisciplinary perspective and employing a range of different methodological approaches.  These areas include equality, diversity and inclusion within professions, sustainability within the chocolate industry, the circular economy, modern slavery and child labour, fraud, governance and accountability, the public interest in accounting, UN sustainable development goals, gender and financial history, professionalisation of accounting in different environments, asset pricing, corporate finance, institutional investors, and financial markets. 

The Department has strengths in both qualitative and quantitative research methods including interview based research, historical research and quantitative research using a range of econometric/statistical techniques.

Centre for Public Understanding of Finance, Institutions and Networks (PUFIN)

Launched in 2013, this unique centre of research excellence focuses on financial education and its impact, consumer behaviours relating to savings, debt and spending and investment choices and decisions. The Centre of Public Understanding of Finance, Institutions and Networks (PUFIN) seeks to lead and engage in events that will enable the public to interact with both academics and practitioners in order to increase their awareness of some of the major contemporary challenges and how these may impact their financial decisions. It seeks to develop a multi-disciplinary research agenda that will enable members of the centre develop research ideas pertaining to decision-making by individuals within a highly connected world.  The Centre also seeks to engage with organisations (e.g. charities) and policymakers, where possible, in order to understand and influence mechanisms and/or systems that support people’s financial decisions.

History and Political Economy of Business and Finance (HYPE)

Established in 2020, the History and Political Economy (HYPE) of Business and Finance is a research cluster bringing together scholars who aim at developing a critical approach to business and financial theory. HYPE puts forward an interdisciplinary research agenda using insights from the perspective of political economy (i.e. an interdisciplinary approach to the relations among individuals, governments, and public policy) and history. The cluster aims at providing a critical understanding of the main contemporary issues and challenges facing business and society, such as rising inequalities, and the financial and environmental fragilities. HYPE also works to establishing communication links, dialogue, and knowledge exchange between academics, businesses, and policy makers.

Academic Publications

Our most recent publications are shown below. Full details of our research publications can be found on Open Research Online and via our staff pages.

Contact the Department for Accounting and Finance

For all department-related enquiries, please email us.

Teaching

Teaching responsibilities include contributions to:

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The OU Investment Simulator has two decades in three weeks!

The Open University Investment Simulator is a new online tool developed by The True Potential Centre for the Public Understanding of Finance.

21st June 2018
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Financial experts fire up the crowd at evening lecture in London

A decade after the global financial markets went into meltdown, our academics were joined by other invited experts to discuss the current precarious situation in ‘Is the world going quants mad? Lessons from financial experts and history’ on Tuesday 5 June.

12th June 2018

Why accountants of the future will need to speak blockchain and cryptocurrency if they want your money

If you haven’t already heard of Bitcoin, you either haven’t been paying attention or you’re a time traveller who just touched down in 2018.

21st March 2018
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Brexit's impact on City of London employment

In the lead up to Brexit we might be able to learn both something about the City and something about how well we adapt to change.

10th January 2018
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Open University Business School: A year of insight

Download this free ebook featuring a year of insights from The Open University Business School (OUBS). This ebook collates a year of world-class thinking from OUBS, one of HR Magazine's HR Most Influential partners.

30th November 2016

Investors more concerned about cost of foreign holidays than Brexit effect on investments

Fallout from the Brexit vote has seen the foreign exchange value of the pound sterling plummet 17% against the US Dollar and 14% against the Euro. Research has found that consumers have insufficient knowledge about the impact and ramifications of the falling foreign exchange rate of the pound on equity markets.

21st November 2016

Resources for SMEs: Finance

Dr Jane Hughes, Lecturer in Accounting at The Open University Business School shares insights that will help SMEs grow. In this series of four short videos, Dr Hughes shares her perspective into how cashflow should be managed, why financial forecasting is essential for SMEs, how businesses can cope with economic changes and the different forms of finance available to SMEs.

1st November 2016

Investing in your Business - The Future of Finance Professionals

The Open University Business School held an exclusive event in London on 7 September 2016. The event was an opportunity to explore the changing dynamics of the finance profession. Wol Kolade, Managing Director at private equity firm Livingbridge and David Miller, Investment Director at Quilter Cheviot joined as guest speakers.

15th September 2016
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Countdown to start of Europe's first MOOCs for academic credit

The OUBS is to be the first business school in Europe to offer credits for its courses through MOOCs on the FutureLearn social learning platform.

11th August 2016

Exceptional student and alumni achievements honoured at the OUBS Awards

The highest achieving students and alumni who have made an outstanding contribution to an organisation or society have been commended at the 13th annual OUBS awards. Among the winners were a publishing manager, retail banker, civil servant and an independent public nurse.

19th July 2016
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