Professor Robert Scapens PhD, MA(Econ), FCA

• PhD, Manchester (1979)
• MA (Econ), Manchester (1972)
• Chartered Accountant (ACA 1968, FCA 1978)

After qualifying as a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and then working as an audit senior with one of the firms which is now part of Ernst & Young, Professor Scapens changed his direction when he obtained a PD Leake Teaching Fellowship at the University of Manchester in 1970, where he subsequently obtained his Master’s Degree and PhD. Initially his research was in financial accounting, but since the early 1980s his research has primarily been in the field of management accounting, and he is now recognised as a leading international scholar in the field.

His early research in both financial and management accounting used quantitative techniques, but since the mid-1980s he has used primarily qualitative research methods. Currently he teaches courses on qualitative research methods and methodology, and he has written books and articles on the subject. He has also published extensively in both academic and practitioner journals. Over the years his research has focused on processes of management accounting change, the role of the management accountant in modern organisations and performance management in global organisations.

Until 2014 he was the Editor-in-Chief of Management Accounting Research, which he founded with Professor Michael Bromwich in 1990. He has been a part-time professor in Birmingham since 2013, although he taught case study research methods in Birmingham for some years before that. He is also an Emeritus Professor at the Alliance Manchester Business School, where his role is similar to that in Birmingham. For twenty years until 2017 he was also a part-time professor in the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. In recent years he has held visiting positions at the University of Lund in Sweden, University of Jyväskylä in Finland, and the University of Siena in Italy.

He has received honorary doctorates from both the University of Lund in Sweden and the University of Vaasa in Finland. He has also received a Distinguished Academic Award from the British Accounting Association, and a Commendation from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants for his contributions to the management accounting profession.

Over the years Professor Scapens has taught a wide range of courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, particularly in management accounting and research methodology. More recently, he has been teaching various courses on case study and qualitative research methods for PhD students in various fields of the social sciences in Birmingham, Manchester and a number of other universities in European countries.

He has successfully supervised over 30 PhD students as well as numerous master’s students.

Professor Scapens has been a member of various professional committees of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and the Chartered Institute of Accountants in England and Wales.