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Research undertaken at Royal Holloway developed a theoretical Performance Audit (PA) model for evaluating the value for money (v-f-m) of the post-decision operational stage of Private Finance Initiatives (PFIs) and Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). Performance Audits (PAs) undertaken by national audit offices encountered difficulties in evaluating v-f-m, given their lifespan of 25 years or more. The model has impact in the UK and Australia, influencing national auditors in their development of PA of PPP/PFI, initially in the UK National Audit Office and directly during the REF 2014 period on the PAs in the Victorian Auditor General's Office (VAGO), Australia.
This case study describes impact resulting from research on assessing the performance of credit scoring models conducted by the Consumer Credit / Retail Banking Research Group of the Mathematics Department at Imperial College. The group's work has influenced both high-level industry strategies for developing scoring models, and also low-level performance measures for which such models are developed, refined and evaluated. We describe examples of companies or bodies that have benefitted from improved credit scoring models, including Prescient Models (a US credit scoring company), Experian and the US Office of the Comptroller of Currency. The group has established a very significant reputation for a wide range of commercially valuable work in this area — to the extent that the group received the major Credit Collections and Risk industry award for Contributions to the Credit Industry in 2012.
Collaborative research into sustainability management has led directly to enhanced embedding of sustainability considerations nationally and internationally in an individual company and professional organisations. The research has positively impacted the embedding of sustainability in decision-making within a supply chain of Sainsbury's. It has informed the practices and policies of professional accountancy bodies (such as ACCA for their small and medium sized accounting practitioner membership) and international bodies developing sustainability accounting guidelines (such as the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC)).The portfolio of research has led to the development of resources that have enhanced professional practice and understanding in decision-making and managing for sustainability.
Julian Franks has studied corporate governance with reference to international experiences. He has revealed that free-rider problems in the dispersed ownership model (large corporations with many small shareholders) generate dysfunctional outcomes; concentrated ownership models (such as family businesses) fare better. Activist investors have a role to play, and corporate governance practices should reflect this. Via the Corporate Governance Centre at LBS he has conveyed these key evidence-based messages to business leaders and regulators in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In summary: this research has enabled corporate leaders to make better governance decisions and has alerted regulators to the governance risks which require most scrutiny.
Sheila Ellwood (at Bristol from 2006) examined how managerial freedoms created through the trend to decentralise public service organisations need to be tempered through `better' accounting. Her research has led to her appointment as a non executive director (2000-2005) and a Treasury Panel member (2009-11). The research impacts on both national policy and local financial management. Her impact is seen in the financial reporting policy in local public bodies; the policy on auditing local public bodies and in the costing/ pricing of healthcare. Her work has been used in UK parliamentary committees and incorporated into government accounting manuals. International recognition includes dissemination of her work by the Chinese Treasury.
This case study concerns the research of the Centre for Counter Fraud Studies relating to both individual and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) victims of fraud. It highlights how the underpinning research has influenced major national policy changes, such as the formation of Action Fraud and the services they and other bodies, such as the National Fraud Authority (NFA), Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and Office of Fair Trading (OFT), provide to support victims. It also demonstrates how the research has informed policy-makers of the significant impact of fraud on victims, stimulating changes in the services offered; with the Sentencing Council conducting a review of sentencing for fraud related offences.
Professor Prem Sikka's research into socially irresponsible business has included investigations into fraudulent accountancy. This research on accountancy practices underpins much of his own political lobbying activity, through which he uses his research to monitor accountancy and banking fraud and to hold perpetrators of fraud to account. One particularly significant example of Sikka's political activity has been a Freedom of Information campaign prompted by his research into the collapse of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International. This research-informed campaign had two impacts. First, the campaign released an uncensored version of the audit report, which has since been covered widely in national media. Second, Sikka's campaign activity has itself had impact by setting significant procedural precedents for the hearing of FOI requests.
For the past decade, a research programme led by Professor Noel Hyndman has investigated accountability and governance in the UK charity sector. Outputs from the research have shaped the national draft reporting and accounting framework, Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP), which provides a mechanism for charities to meet legal accounting requirements and provides consistency in the sector's interpretation of accounting standards. The new framework will apply to more than 200,000 charities in the UK, which have an estimated total annual income of over £60 billion.
Research at the University of Sheffield has led to the development of a Reverse Logistics Toolkit that enables companies in the retail sector, together with members of their supply chain, to improve management of the flow of surplus or unwanted products returned by customers. Companies using the toolkit have seen a reduction in returns of up to 40%, a significant figure given that total UK retail returns have been valued at around £6 billion per annum. The toolkit has enabled companies to reduce costs, improve service provision and reduce transport movements.
Research on International Financial Reporting Standard 8 `Operating segments' (IFRS8), undertaken by academics in the University of Dundee's School of Business, has been used to frame the international debate concerning listed company reporting of disaggregated (segmental) information about business unit and geographic activities. Three bodies involved in regulation and compliance, have drawn on the research to inform their positions and strategies in relation to the standard. Firstly, the IASB's review of IFRS8 was informed by the research. Secondly, the key findings were fed into the Financial Reporting Council's proposals to amend IFRS8. Thirdly, the research underpinned the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland's (ICAS) response to the IASB's request for information on how the standard was being applied, what challenges were encountered and associated costs.