Call for papers

"Public Sector Accounting for a Sustainable Future” is the theme of the CIGAR Biennial Conference 2021. The online conference will feature research paper sessions in different areas, coordinated by different chairs. The two-day Conference shall include five streams as follows: 

• Abstract submission of maximum one page with the purpose, design/method/approach, preliminary findings and contribution, to the respective session chair(s) by 15 March 2021.
• New: Participants could also submit full papers for consideration. Please send you abstract/paper to respective session chair(s) and cc to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Notification of acceptance will be sent at the end of March 2021.
• The full paper submission is expected by 20 May 2021 31 May 2021. Full papers will be submitted to the respective session chair(s) and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Eligible doctoral students can apply and submit their research proposals of max five pages for the CIGAR Doctoral Colloquium by 15 March 2021. The contact persons for the PhD colloquium are Pawan Adhikari This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (Essex University, UK) and Giuseppe Grossi This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (Kristianstad University, SW; and Nord University, NW).

Publication opportunities in Special Issues

Journal: British Accounting Review
Theme: Hybrids’ Act-Ing for Multiple Values.
Guest editors: Laurence Ferry, Giuseppe Grossi, Aziza Laguecir, Basil Tucker.
Submission of full papers to the journal by 31 December 2021.
For more information for the special issue please visit https://www.journals.elsevier.com/the-british-accounting-review/call-for-papers/hybrids-act-ing-for-multiple-values

Journal: Public Money and Management (will be included in the 2022 CIGAR Annual Issue of PMM)
Theme: Public sector accounting education—stocktaking, challenges and innovations
Guest editors: Jens Heiling (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), Sotirios Karatzimas (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), Susana Jorge (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or Caroline Aggestam Pontoppidan (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
Submission of full papers to the theme by 30 July 2021.
For more information for the special issue please visit https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/public-sector-accounting-education-stocktaking/

The attendance fee for the Conference is €50, payable on registration, except for participants in the Doctoral Colloquium.

For further information on the CIGAR Biennial Conference 2021 and the Doctoral Colloquium, please see future news in this Newsletter and on the CIGAR website or contact the CIGAR Chair Susana Jorge at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Provisional Program (Time in CET)

FOR THE ANALYTICAL PROGRAM CLICK HERE (TIME IN CET)

Wednesday June 23 2021 (For the Detailed program click here)

Co-chairs: Pawan Adhikari (Essex University, UK), and Giuseppe Grossi (Nord University, Norway, and Kristianstad University, Sweden)

Invited Speakers

9.00 -9.45
           Prof. Sumit Lodhia (University of South Australia)
           “What about your Qualitative cousins?: Adapting the Pitching template to Qualitative Research”
9.45-10.30
           Prof. Mark Christensen (ESSEC Business School, Singapore)
           “Avoiding the perils of predatory publishing”
10.30-10.45 Break
10.45-12.15 Presentations of PhD students
12.15-13.00 Lunch Break
13.00-14.30 Presentations of PhD students
14.30-14.45 Break
14.45-16.15 Presentations of PhD students
16.15-16.30 Break
16.30-18.00 Presentations of PhD students
18.00 Concluding remarks Pawan Adhikari and Giuseppe Grossi 

Thursday June 24 2021

9.30‐9.45 — Opening
             Welcome by Prof. Dr. Susana Jorge on behalf of the CIGAR Board
9.45-11.00 –  Plenary session (Chair Guiseppe Grossi)
             Speech by Professor Zahirul Hoque, La Trobe University (Australia) 
             “Outcome-based approaches to sustainable government financial management”
             Speech by Professor Eija Vinnari, Tampere University (Finland) 
              “Non-Human Animals: a New Dimension for Public Sector Sustainability Accounting”
11.00-11.30 – Coffee break
11.30‐13.00 — Parallel sessions
13.00‐14.00 — Lunch
14.00‐15.30 — Parallel sessions
15.30‐16.00 — Coffee break
16.00‐18.00 — Parallel sessions  

Friday June 25 2021

9.00‐10.30 — Parallel sessions
10.30-11.00 — Coffee break
11.00-11.30 — In honour of Olov Olson (Chair Anatoli Bourmistrov)
11.30‐12.45 — Plenary session (Chair Josette Caruana) 
                 Current state of IPSAS and of the EPSAS project and matters of sustainability
                           Ian Carruthers Chair of IPSASB
                          John Verrinder Head of Unit at Eurostat
12.45‐13.45 Lunch
13.45-14.30 – Plenary session (Chair Susana Jorge)
                 Speech by a Professor Patrícia Varela, University of São Paulo (Brazil)
                 “Cost Accounting In The Public Sector: Strengthening Performance Towards Sustainable Development”
14.30-15.30 – Closing session (Chair Susana Jorge)
                 CIGAR General Assembly
Concluding remarks by the CIGAR Chair 

Keynote Speakers

Ian Carruthers became Chair of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) in 2016, having been a Board Member since 2010. As a Board Member he led IPSASB’s work on Long Term Financial Sustainability and alignment between IPSASs and Government Finance Statistics. IPSAS issued during Ian’s chairmanship so far include those on Social Benefits and Financial Instruments. Currently in his second term (2019 – 2021), Ian has now been reappointed as IPSASB Chair for a third term through to the end of 2024. After joining HM Treasury from PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1999, Ian played a key role in the UK Government’s transition from cash to accrual budgeting and reporting, in particular leading its Whole of Government Accounts programme. He joined CIPFA in 2006. As part-time Chair, CIPFA Standards, Ian has been involved in all aspects of the Institute’s guidance development activities, including leading its work on the Role of the Public Services CFO, and the development of the International Framework for Good Governance in the Public Sector in partnership with IFAC.

Zahirul Hoque is Professor of Management Accounting/Public Sector at La Trobe Business School of La Trobe University, Melbourne in Australia since December 2006. Formerly, he was the Director of the Centre for Public Sector Governance, Accountability and Performance in the La Trobe Business School of La Trobe University between 2011 and 2020. He was also the Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Law and Management of La Trobe University, Chair in Accounting at Deakin University, Head of School of Business and Profesor of Business at Charles Darwin University, Senior Lecturer in Accounting at Griffith University, Lecturer in Accounting at the Victoria University of Wellington, and Lecturer in Accounting at Dhaka University, Bangladesh. Professor Hoque obtained his PhD from the University of Manchester Business School in the UK. He is a fellow of CPA Australia and the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh. He is the Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change (Emerald Group Publishing). His research is applied, addresses contemporary issues and draws links across several areas of organisational processes and activities particularly new public management, public sector accounting, accountability, cost and risk management, and their interrelationships with performance management and governance. He also has expertise in NGOs and Non-profits accountability and performance and accounting in emerging economies. He is the author of several research monographs, texts and edited books, namely ‘Strategic Management Accounting (Pearson Education); ‘Handbook of Cost Accounting’ (Spiramus London); ‘Methodological Issues in Accounting Research’ (Spiramus); ‘The Routledge Companion to Qualitative Accounting Research’ with L. Parker, M. Covaleski and K. Haynes (Routledge); ‘Performance Management in Nonprofit Organizations’ with L. Parker (Routledge); ‘Making Governments Accountable’ (Routledge); and ‘Cost Management for Nonprofit and Voluntary Organisations, with T. Rana (Routledge), Public Sector Reform and Performance Management in Developed Economies: Outcomes-Based Approaches in Practice (Routledge), and Public Sector Reform and Performance Management in Emerging Economies: Outcomes-Based Approaches in Practice Routledge.

Patrícia Siqueira Varela is currently a researcher and a professor at the University of São Paulo (Brazil) in the School of Economics, Business and Accounting. She has supervised students in the Program of Postgraduate Studies in Controllership and Accounting and is the leader of the research group Center of Studies in Accounting and Government. Her research and publications focus on public sector accounting and public policies performance. Prof. Varela was appointed as a member of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board in January 2020. Prof. Varela also performs the role of standard-setter as a member of both the Advisory Group for the Brazilian Accounting Standards for the Public Sector Accounting at Conselho Federal de Contabilidade and the Technical Committee linked to the National Treasury, responsible for issuing mandatory standards for public sector entities in all federation levels (municipalities, states and central government). Additionally, she has coordinated activities related to implementation of accounting standards based on IPSAS in the University of São Paulo.

John Verrinder is a Head of Unit at Eurostat (European Commission), responsible for the European Public Sector Accounting Standards (EPSAS) project. John has worked in the macroeconomic statistics field for over 20 years, including in government finance statistics. Prior to joining Eurostat, John worked at the United Kingdom Treasury, where he covered public expenditure issues, including accounting reform. 

Eija Vinnari is Full Professor of Public Financial Management at Tampere University, Finland. Her academic work covers a range of fields including social and environmental accounting, public sector accounting, and environmental/animal ethics. In theoretical terms, her studies focus on notions such as accountability, legitimacy, counter-accounts, and sustainability. Eija is keen to explore how accounting could facilitate a transition towards a more sustainable world characterized by inter-species justice. In broader terms, she is fascinated by ontological, epistemological and methodological questions, actor-network theory and discourse analytical approaches. Eija has published in journals such as Accounting, Organizations and Society; Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal; Critical Perspectives on Accounting; Financial Accountability and Management; Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics; and Local Environment. She has also contributed to several edited volumes. Eija is an Associate Editor of Critical Perspectives on Accounting and serves on the editorial boards of Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal; Accounting Forum; Qualitative Research in Accounting and Management; and Scandinavian Journal of Management.

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