HEC Montréal creates a research chair in audit, society and governance

HEC Montréal announces the launch of the Chair in Audit, Society and Governance, co-directed by Professors Zvi Singer and Anna Samsonova-Taddei.

The primary objective of this new research chair is to advance our understanding of ongoing developments in audit practice and regulation linked to the broader societal transformations. This chair places a particular focus on the promotion of diverse research methodologies, including mixed method research designs.

The Chair’s research program will focus on three main areas:
 

1. Audit practice and the rise of digital technologies – examining how automation and artificial intelligence are reshaping the processes of collecting, evaluating and interpreting audit evidence.
2. Diversity and professional accountancy firms – assessing the impact of measures aimed at promoting diversity in the audit profession and analyzing the lived experiences of minorities within professional accounting practices.
3. Sustainability and climate risks – studying the effects of emerging requirements for the disclosure of environmental, social and governance (ESG) information. Such disclosures, once voluntary and infrequent, have now become mandatory in many countries.

About the Chair holders

Zvi Singer is a Full Professor at the Department of Accounting. He earned his Ph.D. in Accounting from the University of California, Berkeley in 2007, and his MBA from Washington University in St. Louis in 1997. In addition to his teaching duties and his role as a research chair, he also serves as an Editorial Board member for Contemporary Accounting Research, and as a member of the Academic Advisory Panel to the Canadian Accounting Standards Board.

His research interests include financial reporting, auditing, societal and environmental issues in accounting, and regulatory impacts on accounting practices. His work – which has been published in top accounting journals – has addressed a wide range of topics, such as the treatment of minority audit partners at audit firms, the quality of earnings forecasts made by companies with female CEOs, and the effect of environmental assurance.

Anna Samsonova-Taddei is a Full Professor at the Department of Accounting. In addition to her role as a research chair, she also serves as a member of the Academic Advisory Panel for the Canadian Accounting Standards Board as well as a member of editorial boards of leading accounting journals such as Accounting, Organizations and Society; Critical Perspectives on Accounting; Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal; and Behavioral Research in Accounting. Anna is also an Associate Editor handling qualitative submissions for the Accounting and Business Research Journal.

Over the years, Anna’s research has focused on a wide range of topics concerning various developments in audit practice and regulation, including the advancement of new technologies, sustainability-focused forms of insurance, and audit regulatory reforms at both national and transnational levels, among others.

Her research has featured in regulatory debates informing audit policy in various jurisdictions, including those held by regulatory bodies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (US); the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (UK), and the Financial Reporting Council (UK).