Kent Business School Accounting Group

Researchers from the Accounting Group at Kent Business School are among the most renowned investigators on their respective fields. Our researchers have been awarded prizes, including the Best Paper Published in Accounting History Review in 2010 and the Enrique Fernandez Pena Prize. Academics within the group are members of the editorial boards of top peer-reviewed journals like Public Management & Money. They regularly work as peer-reviewers for academic journals such as the Journal of Management Control or the Mustang Journal of Accounting and Finance.

Their books are often praised as innovative and insightful, being presented in the most prestigious events – Warwick Funnell’s book ‘A History of National Audit’ was launched at the Palace of Westminster. Lawrence Ferry (Professor of Accounting at Durham University) wrote:

“[Dewar and Funnell] have weaved an interesting account of the UK’s long history of trying to hold officials to account for spending public money. Its publication is also very timely: the combined factors of austerity, localism, devolution and Brexit mean that we need better ways of ensuring financial sustainability and assuring value for money of our local public services. Overall, Dewar and Funnell do a nice job of outlining the move from medieval beginnings to Victorian reform and a modern state, which is followed by the impact of the world wars and post-war strengths and challenges, and bring us to the more contemporary period of New Public Management.”

Our critical accounting researchers bring their extensive knowledge and academic experience to the school, bringing us to the forefront on research issues such as public accountability and the influence of accounting practices on political and social issues. These include:

1. 1. Dr Robert Jupe, a recognised authority on British rail privatisation, has highlighted the many failings and contradictions of privatisation. The most disturbing ones have been major problems with safety across Britain’s rail network.
   2. Dr Li-cheng Chang has established a strong presence in critical accounting literature concerning changes in the culture of the British National Health Service (NHS). These include the shortcomings in patient care which have arisen from the effects of a greater reliance on performance measures derived from accounting practices.
   3. Professor Warwick Funnell’s body of work compliments this research with publications highlighting the impact of the New Public Management (NPM) in many countries. This impact can be seen in the privatisation of previous core public services, such as prisons. Funnell is also amongst the leading international researchers in various aspects of accounting history, including the public sector.

These is just a small sample of the variety of research conducted within the group. For more information on our most up-to-date research see activities and publications.