Dr Wendy Beekes
Senior Lecturer in Accounting and FinanceProfile
Wendy Beekes is a Senior Lecturer in Accounting and Finance at Lancaster University. She came to Lancaster in 2000 having completed a BSc Econ (Hons) in Business Studies (with First Class Honours), MSc Econ in Accounting and Finance, and PhD in Accounting at the University of Wales Aberystwyth, where she was also a part-time tutor and lecturer on undergraduate courses.
Her core research interests lie in the field of corporate governance and the link to disclosures and accounting quality. Her previous work (joint with Professor Philip Brown of University of Western Australia) examining the link between timeliness and corporate governance in a cross-country study was funded by the Leverhulme Trust. Her work has been published in international journals such as Accounting and Finance, Corporate Governance: An International Review and Journal of Business Finance and Accounting. She has also acted as reviewer for research articles for various journals including Accounting and Business Research, Accounting and Finance, British Accounting Review, Corporate Governance: An International Review, European Accounting Review, Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, Journal of Accounting Education, Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, etc. She has also acted as a member of the Scientific Committee for the European Accounting Association Annual Congress (2008 Rotterdam, 2009 Tampere, 2014 Tallinn, 2015 Glasgow, 2016 Maastricht).More recently, Wendy has acted as academic consultant to the IASB working on a research project relating to IFRS 7 Financial Instruments: Disclosures.
Wendy is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and she was awarded a University teaching prize in 2008 in recognition of her imaginative and effective contribution to the learning experiences of students. Her teaching at Lancaster University has been at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, including introductory financial and management accounting, financial statement analysis and advanced management accounting. She has also been involved in the supervision of undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations (including PhD theses). She has also held various department service roles including Disabilities and Equal Opportunities Representative (2000 - 2001), Part I Director of Studies (2001 - 2002, 2004 - 2011), Deputy Undergraduate Director and Study Abroad Advisor (2014 - 2020), Director of Teaching and Learning in Accounting (2017 - 2022) and Part II Director of Studies (2020 - date).
Qualifications
BSc Econ, MSc Econ, PhD Aberystwyth, CiLTHE, SFHEA
Current Teaching
Academic Year 2023-24
AcF 610 - Advanced Management Accounting (Lent term)
Academic Year 2024-25
AcF 610 - Advanced Management Accounting (Lent term)
AcF654 - Management Accounting and Control (Lent term)
Professional Role
Part II Director of Studies in Accounting and Finance
Member of LU Senior Fellows Network
Research Interests
Corporate Governance, Capital Markets, Firm Disclosures, Earnings Conservatism, Earnings timeliness.
Current Research
Timeliness and Corporate Governance
This research strand has developed from work with Professor Philip Brown and is examining the link between corporate governance and the informativeness of firm disclosures. We have completed a number of individual country studies, a cross country study and a paper analysing the measures developed in the course of our research. These have been published in Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, and Accounting and Finance. There are also working papers available from my author page on SSRN.
Research Grants
March 2009: 'Corporate Governance, Disclosure Policies and the Timeliness of Price Discovery' (with P. Brown), The Leverhulme Trust Grant £91,245.
March 2008: £2,776 'Corporate Governance, Corporate Disclosure Policies and The Timeliness of Price Discovery: An International Study' (with P. Brown) Lancaster University Management School Small Grant. Completed.
December 2005: ‘LUMS Visiting Professorship’ Grant for Professor P. Brown £3,500. Completed.
December 2004: ‘Performance Management Systems in Action’ (with D. Otley and V. Ururuka) £6,000 grant from Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). Completed.
October 2004: ‘Information Flows & Corporate Governance’ (with P. Brown) £2,750 grant from Lancaster University Small Grants Committee. Completed.
Selected Publications
Corporate governance, companies’ disclosure practices, and market transparency: a cross country study
Beekes, W.A., Brown, P.R., Zhan, W., Zhang, Q. 03/2016 In: Journal of Business Finance and Accounting. 43, 3-4, p. 263-297. 35 p.
Journal article
Corporate governance and the informativeness of disclosures in Australia: a re-examination
Beekes, W., Brown, P., Zhang, Q. 12/2015 In: Accounting and Finance. 55, 4, p. 931-963. 33 p.
Journal article
Corporate governance, accounting and finance: a review
Brown, P., Beekes, W.A., Verhoeven, P. 2011 In: Accounting and Finance. 51, 1, p. 96-172. 77 p.
Journal article
Do better-governed Australian firms make more informative disclosures?
Beekes, W.A., Brown, P. 2006 In: Journal of Business Finance and Accounting. 33, 3-4, p. 422-450. 29 p.
Journal article
All Publications
IFRS 7 Financial Instruments: Disclosures
Consultancy
IFRS 7 Financial Instruments: Disclosures: Research project commissioned by IFRS foundation
Influence on Policy, Practice, Patients & the Public
Reviewing of ATLAS submissions for Senior Fellowship of Higher Education Academy (Lead Reviewer)
Other
Reviewing of ATLAS submissions for Senior Fellowship of Higher Education Academy (Lead Reviewer)
Examination
Reviewing of ATLAS submissions for Senior Fellowship of Higher Education Academy (Lead Reviewer)
Examination
Australian Journal of Management (Journal)
Publication peer-review
Accounting and Business Research (Journal)
Publication peer-review
Changing Practices in Response to Increasing Student Numbers in Accounting and Finance
Oral presentation
Reviewing of ATLAS submissions for Senior Fellowship of Higher Education Academy (Lead Reviewer)
Examination
Reviewing of ATLAS submissions for Senior Fellowship of Higher Education Academy (Second Reviewer)
Examination
PhD examiner for The Australian National University
Examination
Teaching Effectiveness
Invited talk
PhD examiner for Murdoch University (External organisation)
Examination
University of Sydney (External organisation)
Membership of committee
Journal of Business Finance and Accounting (Journal)
Publication peer-review
20th Financial Reporting and Business Communication Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
20th Financial Reporting and Business Communication Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics (Journal)
Publication peer-review
2016 European Accounting Association Annual Congress (Event)
Membership of committee
Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics (Journal)
Publication peer-review
British Accounting Review (Journal)
Publication peer-review
Journal of Business Finance and Accounting Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
European Accounting Association Annual Congress 2015
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
European Accounting Association Annual Congress 2015 (Event)
Membership of committee
2014 European Accounting Association Annual Congress (Event)
Membership of committee
10th International Conference on Corporate Governance, University of Birmingham
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
University of York seminar programme
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Department of Accounting and Finance Internal Seminar, LUMS
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
British Accounting Association Joint Conference of the Northern Region Accounting Group / Interdisciplinary Perspectives Special Interest Group
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Accounting Association of Australia and New Zealand Annual Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Newcastle Univ, Newcastle University
Visiting an external academic institution
European Accounting Association Annual Congress
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
British Accounting Association Annual Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Accounting and Finance (Journal)
Publication peer-review
Journal of Accounting Education (Journal)
Publication peer-review
European Accounting Association Annual Congress (Event)
Membership of committee
European Accounting Review (Journal)
Publication peer-review
British Accounting Review (Journal)
Publication peer-review
Accounting and Business Research (Journal)
Publication peer-review
Corporate Governance: An International Review (Journal)
Publication peer-review
Journal of Business Finance and Accounting (Journal)
Publication peer-review
- Accounting, Finance, Governance and Banking
- Corporate Governance and Auditing