PhD students are essential members of the Accounting Discipline Group. The PhD program is aimed at taking the brightest minds and providing them with a set of skills which will equip them for both high level industry and academic positions. PhD topics span across the specialist areas of financial accounting, management accounting and accounting information systems.
For further enquiries regarding our PhD students and their research, please contact accounting.bus@uts.edu.au
Handi Brata
Entered PhD program: July 2023
PhD supervisors: Associate Professor Helen Spiropoulos and Dr Robert Czernkowski
Thesis (working) title: Essays on Risk, Pay and Disclosures in Financial Institutions
Yan Chen
Entered PhD program: July 2022
PhD supervisors: Distinguished Professor Stephen Taylor and Professor Yaowen Shan
Research interests: Financial accounting, corporate governance, auditing and governance, machine learning
Thesis (working) title: The economic consequences of regulatory exposure: an accounting perspective
Teaching areas: Introductory accounting, management accounting, financial accounting
Profile, academic background and work experience:
- Yan completed a Bachelor of Business with Distinction in 2019 and a Bachelor of Business (Honours) in 2021, graduated with First Class Honours and University Medal. Her Honours thesis focused on predicting stock price crash risk using machine learning.
- Yan has worked in administrative and academic roles at UTS and as a corporate governance research analyst in an American proxy advisory services company. She is currently an academic tutor for the Accounting Discipline Group at UTS.
- Yan is a recipient of the UTS International Research Scholarship in 2022.
Brett Edwards
Entered PhD program: March 2020
PhD supervisors: Professor Sue Wright
Research topics: Biological aspects of wealth in accounting
Profile: Brett is the Chief Financial Officer of Kip McGrath Education Centres Ltd, a tutoring business listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. He has 30 years of experience in accounting and reporting in a number of major Australian and international businesses, including 10 years with international accounting firm Ernst & Young. He was previously a director of GMAC Australia LLC, a division of General Motors operating in the finance segment in Australia. Brett has a Bachelor of Economics from Macquarie University, with Honours in Accounting. As part of his PhD he is researching existing concepts of wealth and accounting and their relationship with biological decision-making. The objective of the research is to explore various aspects of this relationship to seek out further areas to investigate and potentially provide a better understanding of biological factors in accounting.
Professional qualifications:
- Fellow of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand
- Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors
Leanne Gaul
Entered PhD program: July 2021
PhD supervisor: Associate Professor Bernhard Wieder
Research topic: Stakeholder engagement by the Australian Local Government Sector in the sustainability reporting cycle.
Teaching areas: Accounting, finance, financial planning, economics
Profile, academic background and work experience: Leanne Gaul is an accounting PhD candidate at the UTS business school. After completing a Bachelor of Economics and PGrad Diploma of Education she went on to become a financial planner for 10 years, completing a Diploma of Financial Planning to become a Certified Financial Planner. Returning to study in 2013 Leanne completed a Master of Professional Accounting whilst working as a sessional academic (from 2015 to present) teaching in Auditing, Strategic and Sustainable Accounting, Accounting Information Systems, Accounting and Finance, Financial Planning, Risk Management and Insurance and Economics. Upon completing MPA she then enrolled in Bachelor of Business (Honours) completing a dual method study of stakeholder engagement by NSW Local Councils in the sustainability reporting cycle achieving a H1 result and an Executive Deans Award. Her enrolment as PhD candidate at UTS is to build and extend the research from her honours degree.
Publication:
- Gaul, L. (2021). Sustainability as part of accountability and organisational reporting. Accounting and Accountability. https://oer.pressbooks.pub/utsaccounting1/chapter/sustainability-as-part-of-accountability-and-organisational-reporting/
Charles Gianfriddo
Entered PhD program: September 2022
PhD supervisors: Professor Andrew Ferguson, Dr Peter Lam, Gabriel Pereira Pundrich (External)
Paulo Victor Gomes Novaes
Entered PhD Program: April 2024
PhD Supervisors: Professor Andrew Ferguson, Dr Peter Lam, and Assistant Professor Gabriel Pündrich (University of Florida)
Research Interest: Accounting and Corporate Finance dillemas, such as M&A, Firm Valuation, Project Finance, Forecasts, and Financial Reporting.
Thesis title: Management Forecast in Mining Project Finance.
Profile/Academic Background and Work Experience: Paulo is a certified accountant in Brazil, researching and teaching in the areas of accounting and finance. Currently, he is a research affiliate at Fucape Business School and a partner at Intelethos Ltd., a consultancy firm mostly focused on firm valuation and accounted-related issues. During his Bachelor of Accounting at the Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES), he gained experience as an accounting analyst for several years. After completing an MBA in Accounting for SMEs at Fucape Business School, he began working as a consultant on multiple projects. For his Master’s degree at UFES, he studied voluntary disclosure and the cost of equity capital controlled by the firm’s life cycle stages, and he has had multiple papers published in Brazilian journals. His first Ph.D. at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) focused on corporate finance, with his thesis covering various aspects of M&A, including knowledge transfer, shareholders’ activism, and firm valuation. In his current Ph.D. at UTS, he is researching corporate reporting and project finance in the mining industry.
Publication:
Working Papers:
- “M&A Drivers and Life Cycle Stages Dynamic” with Gabriel Pündrich (University of Florida - USA) and Wagner Moura Lamounier (UFMG, Brazil). Under review
- “Resource slack and Institutional Investors: A DuPont Analysis in an Emerging Market.” with Wagner Moura Lamounier (UFMG, Brazil), Laura Edith Taboada Pinheiro (UFMG), Valéria Gama Fully Bressan (UFMG), and Luiz Cláudio Louzada (UFES). Under review
- “The spillover effect of shareholder activism on target-sought fairness opinions” with Gabriel Pündrich (University of Florida - USA) and Wagner Moura Lamounier (UFMG, Brazil).
- “The impact of IFRS 16 on the usefulness of sophisticated investors” with Adoniran de Souza Pereira (Fucape) and Luiz Cláudio Louzada (UFES).
- “Knowledge transfer, life cycle stages, and M&A success” with Gabriel Pündrich (University of Florida - USA) and Wagner Moura Lamounier (UFMG, Brazil).
Published Papers:
- “Is there really synergy creation after M&A? Evidence from Brazil under the life cycle approach” with Wagner M. Lamounier, and Valéria G. F. Bressan (UFMG - Brazil). Accounting & Management, 67(1), 1., 2022.
- “The role of firms’ life cycle stages on voluntary disclosure and cost of equity capital in Brazilian public companies” with José Elias F. Almeida (UFES - Brazil). Brazilian Business Review, 17(6), 601–620, 2020.
- “How does market concentration influence Brazilian firms’ operational performance? An analysis of concentration moderating effect” with Luiz C. Louzada and Wesley Lourenço (UFES - Brazil). Revista de Gestão dos Países de Língua Portuguesa, v. 19, p. 14-38, 2020.
- “Cost classification by behavior under the variable costing: A case study applied in a company in the hospital service sector in Espírito Santo” with Marcos V. G. Tres, Luiz C. Louzada, and Wesley L. Silva (UFES - Brazil). Brazilian journal of quantitative methods applied to accounting, v. 8, p. 1-19, 2020.
- “The moderating role of market structure on the relationship between firm operational performance and degree of operating leverage” with Luiz C. Louzada and Wesley Lourenço (UFES - Brazil). Revista Universo Contábil, v. 14, n. 4, p. 160–181, 2018.
- “Discretionary Accruals and Analyst optimistic forecasts: Incentives and consequences”, with Pedro Borges (UFPA – Brazil), José Elias F. Almeida and Patricia M. Bortolon (UFES - Brazil). Contabilidade Vista & Revista, v. 29, p. 28-47, 2018.
- “Clientele effect: An analysis of the relation between book-tax differences and extra dividends of listed firms at the Brazilian Stock Exchange (Bovespa)”, with Alfredo Sarlo Neto, André A. Almeida and Luiz C. Louzada (UFES – Brazil). Revista Contemporânea de Contabilidade, v. 12, p. 3-22, 2015.
- “The influence of private equity and venture capital on the earnings informativeness at the Brazilian market”, with André A. Almeida, Alfredo Sarlo Neto, and Leonardo L. Gomes (UFES – Brazil). Advances in Scientific and Applied Accounting, v. 7, p. 266-292, 2014.
Thanh Hoang
Entered PhD program: February 2023
PhD supervisors: Associate Professor Anna Bedford and Dr Le Ma
Research interests: Corporate governance, financial accounting, innovation
Thesis (working) title: Motivating CEOs to innovate: exploration and exploitation
Teaching area: Introductory Accounting
Academic background and work experience:
- Thanh completed her Accounting Honours degree with First Class Honours and was the winner of the Best Presentation Award – second prize at Deakin University Research Day for her honours thesis.
- Prior to the honours year, Thanh graduated with a master’s degree in Professional Accounting with High Distinction, a full-fee scholarship and the Dean’s Merit Award. Her bachelor’s degree was in Business (Hospitality Management), completed with High Distinction, funded by academic excellence scholarships and enriched by an exchange term in Switzerland.
- Thanh started teaching introductory accounting subjects at UTS in 2021. Her professional experience includes working as a Corporate Governance Research Assistant at Glass Lewis, an American proxy advisory firm.
Pui San Ip
Entered PhD program: August 2023
PhD supervisors: Dr Le Ma, Professor Yaowen Shan
Godsway Kadey
Entered PhD program: January 2022
PhD supervisors: Professor Andrew Ferguson and Dr Peter Lam
Research interests: Extractive industry, Corporate governance, Corporate Finance, Capital markets, Climate risks.
Thesis (working) title: Mineral Economics and Capital Markets.
Teaching areas: Accounting and Accountability
Profile, academic background and work experience:
- Godsway holds a B.Sc. in Earth Science (Geology) from the University of Ghana, M.Sc. degrees in Mining and Geology (Economic Geology) and Advanced Analytics (Finance and Economics) from the AGH University of Science and Technology and the SGH Warsaw School of Economics respectively.
- Professionally, Godsway has worked within the financial services sector including stints with UBS as an Associate Director (Country and Climate Risk) and J.P. Morgan as a research and data analyst.
- Recently, he was a part time Research Fellow at the Arctic Basecamp focusing on the socio-economic impacts and opportunities associated with climate change. Godsway also has operational experience within the mining industry as a geologist.
Jinjun Ke
Entered PhD program: April 2024
PhD supervisors: Professor Yaowen Shan, Dr Samir Ghannam, Meiting Lu (External)
Deb Lewis
Entered PhD program: July 2022
PhD supervisors: Associate Professor Anna Bedford, Professor Martin Bujega
Research topic: Executive Compensation Complexity: are Boards sheep following the flock or sheep in wolves' clothing?
Research areas: Executive Compensation; Complexity; Governance
Academic background and work experience:
- Deb holds a BSc in Actuarial Science from City University, London.
- She qualified as an (pensions) Actuary in the UK in 1991, before migrating to Australia, and became a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia in 1994. In 1997, she became a superannuation manager in an ASX100 listed company, and quickly added remuneration to her portfolio.
- She has worked as Head of Remuneration and worked closely with the Board Remuneration Committees of many ASX100 companies for more than 25 years.
- She has an MBA from AGSM, and is a Graduate Member of the AICD.
Lillian Li
Entered PhD program: January 2021
PhD supervisors: Associate Professor Bernhard Wieder and Dr Maria-Luise Ossimitz
Research interests: Management Accounting, Business Analytics
Thesis (working) title: The role of Business Analytics and ICT in changing Management Controls while Teleworking
Teaching areas: Introductory Accounting
Profile, academic background and work experience:
- Lillian completed a Master of Professional Accounting in 2016 at the University of Tasmania (UTAS). She had more than 3 years of industry experience in accounting prior to joining UTS. She is also a member of CPA Australia. Lillian currently holds a position as a research assistant and casual academic at UTS where she teaches introductory accounting.
- Her research interests include management controls, business analytics, ICT and teleworking. COVID-19 leads to many disruptive changes, but there is still very little is known about the precise impacts of these changes on Australian organisations. Her research intends to narrow this knowledge gap by investigating operational performance impacts of COVID-19-related changes to teleworking, management controls, and the role of ICT and business analytics in managing these changes.
Jiali Yolanda Lin
Entered PhD program: January 2021
PhD supervisors: Professor David Brown and Associate Professor Nicole Sutton
Research interests: Corporate Governance, Regulation and Public Policy, Corporate Accountability
Thesis (working) title: Real disciplinary effects of external regulatory monitoring: firms' responses to complaint investigations in aged care
Profile, academic background and work experience:
- Yolanda is an Accounting PhD candidate at the UTS Business School and a member of the UTS Ageing Research Collaborative. She has research interests in regulation, corporate governance and management accounting. Her current work examines the real disciplinary effects of regulatory monitoring on a firm’s compliance behaviour. As a member of the UTS Ageing Research Collaborative, she also works with researchers from multiple disciplines, industry leaders and the government on projects investigating the future development of the aged care sector in Australia.
- Yolanda has a Bachelor of Business with Honours majoring in Accounting from UTS. Her honours thesis examined problems of complaint-based regulatory systems in the Australian aged care sector. She also holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Political, Economics and Social Sciences from the University of Sydney.
- Yolanda is a recipient of the UTS President’s Scholarship and UTS International Research Scholarship in 2021.
Current working papers:
- McAllister, G., Sutton, N., Brown, D.A., Parker, D., Lewis, R., Rawlings-Way, O., Lin, J.Y., & Harrison, B. (2021). ‘Using public inquiries as a data source for accounting research: A systematic review’. working paper. - Currently under review at the European Accounting Review.
- Lin, J.Y., Sutton, N., Brown, D.A., McAllister, G. and Rawlings-Way, O. (2022). Regulatory ritualism: investigating breakdowns within Australia’s aged care complaint system. Working paper.
- Lin, J.Y., Sutton, N., Brown, D.A., Real disciplinary effects of external regulatory monitoring: firms' responses to complaint investigations in aged care. 2022 AFAANZ Doctoral Symposium.
Thuy (Linh) Luong
Entered PhD program: August 2022
PhD supervisors: Associate Professor Bernhard Wieder, Professor Prabhu Sivabalan and Dr Maria-Luise Ossimitz
Research interests: Performance Management, Accounting Information Systems, Business Intelligence, Business Analytics
Thesis (working) title: Performance Management and application of Cloud computing to Performance Management Systems in Small and Medium Entities
Profile, academic background and work experience: I completed a Master of Professional Accounting at UTS in 2017. I am also a member of CPA Australia since 2019. I have more than five years of industry experience in accounting firms, specialising in outsourcing finance and taxation.
Samson Mazara
Entered PhD program: July 2024
PhD supervisors: Professor Andrew Ferguson, Dr. Peter Lam
Research interests: Mining, Oil and Gas, Mining Financial Economics, Exploration and Evaluation (E&E) Expenditures, Accounting, Corporate Governance and Disclosure, Valuation, Capital Markets (ASX, TSX, TSX Venture Exchange), Private Equity, Commodity Markets, Risk Management.
Thesis (working) title: Mineral Economics and Capital Markets: Financing and Valuation Mechanisms for Exploration and Evaluation Expenditures.
Profile/Academic Background and Work Experience: Samson hold a Bachelor of Science Honours Degree in Mining Engineering from the University of Zimbabwe, a Master of Business Administration (MBA) – Finance from the University of New South Wales (AGSM), and Executive Certificate in Project Management- University of Zimbabwe.
Professionally, Samson holds several certifications which include:
- Certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt ( LSSMBB),
- Certified Lean Six Sigma Executive Black Belt -UNSW AGSM,
- Certified Risk Manager (CRM),
- Certified Risk management Professional (CRMP),
- Certified Senior Site Executive ( Mining) and First Class Mine Manager Certificate of Competency,
- CFA Certificate in Investment Foundations.
;Samson has over 17 years of leadership and technical experience in the mining industry, across open pit and underground operations in Australia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Ghana, Chile, Canada, Iran, Russia, and Peru. His extensive expertise covers the entire mining value chain, including mine financial economics, exploration, prospecting, strategic planning, mine management (mine development, production management, and closure and rehabilitation).
Emma Newberry
Entered PhD program: January 2025
PhD supervisors: Professor Andrew Ferguson, Dr Peter Lam
Sebastian Onie
Entered PhD program: February 2020
PhD supervisor(s): Associate Professor Helen Spiropoulos and Emeritus Professor Peter Wells
Research Interest: Accounting Standards and Regulations
Thesis (working) title: The Economic Consequences of IFRS 16: Evidence from Australia
Teaching areas: Accounting for Business Decision A, Accounting for Business Decision B
Profile, academic background and work experience:
- Sebastian completed his Bachelor of Business at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), majoring in Accounting and Finance in 2018. In the following year, he completed his Bachelor of Business (Honours) in Accounting with a thesis titled The Impact and Relevance of Earnings under AASB 15: Some Preliminary Evidence.
- Sebastian has worked as a casual academic tutor for the Accounting Discipline Group at UTS, teaching Accounting for first-year business students. He also has experience working as a research assistant in developing a chatbot for several accounting subjects. Currently, Sebastian teaches introductory accounting to loan officers from various financial institutions.
- Sebastian is currently undertaking his PhD in Accounting at UTS. His research interest is centred around the economic consequences related to accounting standards and regulations, specifically on the new leasing standard for Australian firms, IFRS 16.
Publications:
- Ma, L., Onie, S., Spiropoulos, H., & Wells, P. A. (2022). An evaluation of the impacts of the adoption of IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers. Accounting and Finance, Forthcoming.
Conference presentations:
- Ma, L., Onie, S., Spiropoulos, H., & Wells, P. A. (2021, November 1). Post-implementation review of International Financial Reporting Standard 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers [Paper Presentation]. Australian Accounting Standards Board Research Forum, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Dave Puntsag
Entered PhD program: March 2024
PhD supervisors: Professor Andrew Ferguson, Dr Peter Lam
Sameera Rasool
Entered PhD program: January 2020
PhD supervisors: Associate Professor Helen Spiropoulos, Associate Professor Anna Bedford
Saefudin
Entered PhD program: August 2022
PhD supervisors: Dr David Bond, Dr Robert Czernkowski, Dr Matthew Grosse
Research interests: Government Accounting
Thesis (working) title: Local Government Resource Dependence and Financial Accountability
Profile, academic background and work experience: Bachelor of Accounting, from Indonesian Ministry of Finance College, and a Master of Accounting and Finance from Flinders University, South Australia.
Saefudin's professional experience includes the Ministry of Finance in Indonesia as a staff member in the Treasury Department since 2003.
Mikhail Shashnov
Entered PhD program: January 2021
PhD supervisors: Associate Professor Roman Lanis, Professor Peter Wells, Dr Brett Govendir and Dr Greg Pazmandy
Research interests: Taxation, executive compensation, corporate tax aggressiveness
Thesis (working) title: The impact of CSR report restatements on tax aggressiveness
Teaching areas: Small Business Management and Accounting
Profile, academic background and work experience: Mikhail holds a Bachelor of Economics majoring in Finance (The National Research University – Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia) and a Master of Professional Accounting (The University of Technology Sydney). Mikhail has held a range of positions including economist, financial analyst and academic researcher. Mikhail has research interests in taxation, tax aggressiveness and data science.
Kate Suppel
Entered PhD program: September 2021
PhD supervisors: Professor Andrew Ferguson and Dr Peter Lam
Research interests: Mining, project finance, capital structure
Thesis (working) title: Project Capital Structure and Long Run Performance
Teaching areas: -
Profile/Academic Background and Work Experience: Kate holds a Bachelor of Engineering (honours) from the University of New South Wales. Kate holds a Master of Engineering Management and PhD in Engineering from the University of Newcastle. Kate had previously worked in the mining, refining, power generation and manufacturing industries and has worked for such companies as Alcoa, Rio Tinto, and Orica primarily in asset management engineering roles. It was through this experience that Kate developed an interest in understanding the financing process for mining companies. As part of her accounting PhD, she is researching the many facets of project financing including the project capital structure, market reactions to project capital approvals, long-run project performance and the effect of corporate governance.
Jiaqi Wang
Entered PhD program: July 2021
PhD supervisors: Professor Martin Bugeja and Professor Yaowen Shan
Research interests: Corporate Governance, Director Elections, Proxy Votes
Thesis (working) title: Nature and Consequences of Director Elections
Profile, academic background and work experience: Jiaqi Wang completed a Bachelor of Business (Honours) at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) in 2020. She is Dean’s Merit, Accounting High Achiever award, and The Plato Investment Management Scholarship for Women in Finance owner. She had working experience as a customer support executive in IC Markets, Australia’s top online trading company. Her prominent role was educating clients about the company’s trading products and procedures and analysing and investigating trades. Jiaqi had a six-month contract with the ATS Accountants & Partners, whose primary role was lodging taxes for individuals and small companies. For academic experience, she had a five-month contract and a three-month contract working as a research assistant at UTS Business School while completing her undergraduate studies. The projects are data collection for director election votes at AGM and for CEO remuneration plans, respectively.
Jason Ward
Entered PhD program: March 2024
PhD supervisors: Associate Professor Roman Lanis and Dr Greg Pazmandy
Bowen Xu
Entered PhD program: August 2023
PhD supervisors: Professor Yaowen Shan, Professor Sue Wright, Meiting Lu (External)
Qijia Zhang
Entered PhD program: March 2024
PhD supervisors: Professor Yaowen Shan, Associate Professor Nelson Ma
Fiona Zhao
Entered PhD program: August 2023
PhD supervisors: Professor Martin Bugeja and Dr Samir Ghannam
Research interests: Mergers and Acquisitions, Corporate Governance
Thesis (working) title: TBA
Profile/Academic Background and Work Experience: Fiona holds a Bachelor of Business and a Master of Commerce majoring in Accounting and Finance from the The Australian National University. She has worked as a research assistant for the Accounting Discipline Group.