ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR (Education) AND msc PROGRAMME DIRECTOR, LSE DEPARTMENT OF accounting
Having studied Economics at Pembroke College, Cambridge, I qualified as a chartered accountant with ICAEW and worked in finance, media and consulting. I then completed an MSc in Philosophy of the Social Sciences in the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method at LSE, followed by a PhD in the Department of Accounting. In my doctoral research, I examined the influence of financial economic theory on accounting practice, primarily with respect to issues of accounting standard setting. The novel contribution of this work was its use of a sequential analysis of regulatory outcomes across jurisdictions and technical areas of financial reporting.
My research focuses on biases in group decision-making and the emergence of norms in performance measurement. Examples of such performance measurement are 'fair value accounting' in corporate financial reporting and 'social impact measurement' in the social sector. In my work, I draw on theories from sociology, social psychology and philosophy, using evidence from interviews, documentary analysis and online experiments. This pluralistic approach enables me to work at disciplinary boundaries and to address a varied audience. Whether examining deliberative biases in group decision-making, the effect of social impact measures on meaningful work, or the ethical status of social impact bonds, my primary concern is to investigate understudied forces influencing organisational decision-making.
In more recent work, I analyse the emergence, persistence and diffusion of a new language and practice of social impact measurement increasingly used by social purpose organisations. Highlighting structural features of a new community of social investment professionals, I identify threshold issues and community structure as key factors that enabled business and investment language to enter the charitable sector. In addition to research and teaching, I also engage in practice-facing activities. I am currently working on a grant-funded project to analyse socio-economic diversity in the UK community of social investment and I was previously a commissioner on the Alternative Commission on Social Investment.
In addition to my academic work I am a governor of Capella House School, a trustee of the Valence Mary Trust and Chair of the Pembroke College Cambridge Society.