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In May, more than 1,000 researchers in accounting, accountants, financial analysts and other experts attended the three day, 35th European Accounting Association Annual Congress and seized the opportunity to go to 667 presentations of scientific-research papers and 11 symposiums. Topics discussed at this year's congress included financial reporting, corporate governance, accounting and information systems, social and environmental accounting and taxation. Some of these were related to the effects of the ongoing financial crisis. The conference was presided over by Aljoša Valentinčič, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Vice Dean for Research and Doctorate Studies at the Faculty of Economics.

Great Recognition

The conference opened with a keynote address from Steven Maijoor, Chairman of the European Security and Markets Authority, in which he discussed regulatory reform of the financial markets, in the EU and around the world, as an answer to the current financial crisis. He also supported the efforts for improving accounting reports from the public sector with the introduction of international standards and endeavours to limit certain consultancy services of auditors. A symposium on the provision of non-audit services by long standing audit firms and their independence from the boards of companies as one of the central issues for company management, was chaired by Karel van Hulle, Ph.D.
Among other burning issues discussed was the issue of the link between neuroscience and the economy and accounting. Moreover, editors of six important scientific magazines were seeking solutions to the problems of publishing and evaluation of scientific achievements as their quality is too often measured only with mechanical indices. Hosting a conference of such dimension provides significant recognition for the Faculty of Economics for its participation in the international research sphere.