Martin Walker, Emeritus Professor of Accounting and Finance, has been named as the co-recipient of the prestigious Anthony G. Hopwood Award from the European Accounting Association (EAA).
The award recognises leadership and service to the EAA community, including doctoral consortium participation, service on EAA committees, regular participation in congresses and symposia, and editorial responsibilities.
It also reflects the production of a significant body of work, including journal articles, monographs, books or other works published over the academic’s career, judged to have made a “distinct and valuable contribution to the advancement of accounting thought".
Mentoring role
Professor Walker said he was very grateful to AMBS and the University of Manchester for supporting his work for the EAA over many years. “It is a great pleasure for me to receive this award. I have actually been attending EAA conferences since the 1980s, but my involvement deepened when I was elected as UK representative on its board from 2011 to 2017.
"My work for the EAA has continued since through my role as Editor of the EAA’s PhD Mentoring Initiative. The knowledge content that PhD students need today is increasingly specialised, and as part of the initiative we take a PhD proposal and find a leading academic in that area to anonymously give their comments on the proposal. It helps the student further shape their ideas and provides a support mechanism over and above their local support."
Big issues
Professor Walker added that the EAA continued to be at the forefront of debates around sustainability reporting and, more generally, improving the quality of company information.
He added: “The EAA is playing a big part in continued debates around climate change and how you hold firms to account for the contribution they are making to climate change and what they are doing to get their emissions down.
"More generally, we also still see today all kinds of problems with companies misrepresenting their financial performance, and the EAA is involved in finding ways of detecting that and improving the quality of information for investors."
Congratulations
Professor Ken McPhail, Head of Alliance Manchester Business School, said: "Many congratulations go to Martin. This is a major achievement and he joins a very distinguished list of past recipients of this award. It is also great to hear that Martin is still so involved with the EAA through his valuable mentoring work for PhD students."
The award was established in 2005 and renamed to honour Professor Anthony G. Hopwood who played a prominent role in the creation and development of the EAA. Professor Walker will receive the award in person at the EAA’s annual congress in Bucharest, Romania, in May. He is sharing the award this year with Peter Pope, Professor of Accounting at Bocconi University, Milan, and Emeritus Professor of Accounting at the London School of Economics and Political Science.