Tel: 0121 204 3434

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @AndyLymer

Andy joined the Accounting Department, Aston University as its Head in March 2021 as Professor of Taxation and Personal Finance. He became the Head of the merged Accounting & Finance Department in January 2025. He is also Director of the Centre for Personal Financial Wellbeing within Aston Business School and was the Chair of the international Tax Research Network from 2017 - 2025.

Prior to this had an extensive career at the Birmingham Business School (University of Birmingham) where he worked for almost 30 years in a variety of roles. From 2012 - 2016, he was the Deputy Head (Associate Dean) of the School, was Interim Head of School during 2012. For the four prior years he was the Head of the Department of Accounting and Finance.  He was the Director of the Research Centre on Household Assets and Savings Management (CHASM) from 2016 to 2021. 

He researches and teaches in the fields of personal finance (financial education/literacy/capability/inclusion and financial wellbeing), of taxation (UK, comparative and international taxation) and (historically) of information systems (particularly the use and impact of the internet).

He has held visiting positions at various institutions in the USA (Texas Tech University), in Australia (UNSW, Sydney University, Melbourne University and Curtin University), New Zealand (Massey) and in South Africa (UNISA).

He was during 2025 a Visiting Research at UCD, Ireland and in 2026 a Visiting Erskine Fellow at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand

For three years (2009 - 2011) he led the Tax Development Programme of HM Treasury.

Professor Lymer's research interests lie in three primary areas:

1. Taxation - specifically including personal and corporate taxes, comparative taxation, international taxation, wealth taxes and VAT

2. Personal Finance - all matters related to individuals and households and how they manage their money including savings (emergency, short and long term), later life finances (pensions, care provision), wellbeing (understanding how to conceptualise, and thereby better manage, personal notions of what creates and maintains financial welbeing), poverty alleviation strategies (Government at local and national level) and how people create and maintain effective everyday financial behaviours.

3. Business use of IT - specifically related to accounting information systems and data analytics enabled by accounting systems, and use of modern communications tools for corporate financial reporting.

Current and recent (post 2020) funded research projects :

• Principal Investigator - Personal Financial Wellbeing and ethnic-minority lead Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

         Aviva Foundation - £309,000 (April 2024 - March 2026)

        with Dixon Tan (CPFW, Aston University), Monder Ram (CREME, Aston University), Sally Dibbs & Hussan Aslam (CiBES, Coventry University) and Saidul Haque Saeed (Citizens UK)

• Co-Principal Investigator - Real Accounts project (extension)

          Fair4All Finance  - circa £150,000 (March - September 2024)

     with Hayley James and Lexie Davies (CPFW, Aston University), Anne Angsten Clark, Sope Outlana & Jo Phillips (NEST Insight), Olga Biosca (Glasgow Caledonian University) et al.

• Co-Principal Investigator - Money and Physical Health: A Rapid Evidence Assessment

         Money and Pension Service - £9,600 (January 2024 - March 2024)

         With Hayley James (CPFW, Aston University)

• Co-Investigator - Wicked challenges in personal finance - developing effective regional poverty alleviation strategies 

         Warwick University - £40,000 (November 2023 - July 2024)

         with Omid Trehani (Warwick University) & Gary Burke (University of Bristol)

• Co-Principal Invesigator - Real Accounts project 

     Aviva Foundation  - £300,000 (Spring 2023 - March 2024)

     with Hayley James and Lexie Davies (CPFW, Aston University), Anne Angsten Clark, Sope Outlana & Jo Phillips (NEST Insight), Olga Biosca (Glasgow Caledonian University) et al. 

• Principal Investigator - Mental Health and Money : Rapid Evidence Assessment

         Money and Pension Service - £8,600 (Nov 2022 - March 2023)

         With Hayley James (CPFW, Aston University)

• Principal Investigator – Harmful gambling and tenancy loss

         Gambling Commission (Regulatory Settlement Award) - £365,000 (June 2021 – May 2023)

         with H. Sacranie (Aston University) and Birmingham City Council Housing Team

• Principal Investigator – Quality v quantity in social housing provision

         Vivid Housing Group - £38,863 (September 2019 – April 2022)

         with James Gregory (CHASM, University of Birmingham)

• Co-Investigator – Finding and funding social care: a qualitative study of the experiences of self-funders

         NIHR – Research for Patient Benefit programme (RfPB Social Care 1) – £270,714 (September 2019 – May 2021)

        With K Baxter, E, Heavy, (SPRU, York), L Overton (CHASM, Birmingham), S Calline (City of York Council), A. Barnett (DIPEx), S. Ryan (Oxford)

• Principal Investigator – The Tenant’s Journey: social housing and life-chances

         East Devon District Council and LiveWest - £30,000 (November 2016 – August 2020)

         With James Gregory (CHASM, University of Birmingham)

(for a fuller list of current projects see the Centre for Personal Financial Wellbeing website here)

BSc (Hons) (Wales), MPhil (Wales), FAIA (Academic), FCMI, FRSA, PFHEA

Professor Lymer primarily teaches in the area of taxation at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. 

He has teaching experience in :

• UK (including Aston University, University of Birmingham, Imperial College Business School, Oxford University, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and others),
• New Zeland (University of Canterbury)
• USA (Texas Tech University),
• Australia (UNSW, University of Melbourne, Sydney University Curtin University) and
• South Africa (UNISA)

He is the co-author of - 

• the leading UK tax texbook used in Business Schools - Taxation: Policy & Practice (Fiscal Publications - 33rd edition 2026/27) 
• a research and teaching 'primer' on Taxation and Social Policy (Policy Press - May 2023)
• the primary worldwide textbook on Comparative Taxation (Fiscal Publications - 2nd edition published in 2025)

Professor Lymer has supervised (mostly as primary supervisor) 13 students to completion of PhD or Research Masters degrees .

He is currently supervising 2 PhD/DBA students. 

He is a regular external examiner of PhD students at other Universities. 

Professor Lymer is currently the Head of the Department of Accounting & Finance at Aston University

He is also a member of the Aston Business School's Senior Management Team

Professor Lymer currently holds the following visiting positions:

1. 2026 Visiting Erskine Fellow - Department of Accounting and Information Systems , University of Canterbury, New Zealand

He has previously held visiting positions in the USA (Texas Tech University), New Zealand (Massey), South Africa (UNISA), Ireland (UCD) and Australia (UNSW, Sydney, Melbourne and Curtin Universites) 

Professor Lymer is actively involved in a wide variety of organisations. Current (selected) research partners, funders or those directly involved in this work or wider interests (since 2020) have included :

• Money and Pensions Service (UK Government) - research funder and Research and Evaluation Group member 
• Tax Research Network - as Chair 2017 - 2025
• NEST Insight - research partner
• Chartered Institute of Taxation - Education Committee and Fellowship Committee member
• Aviva Foundation - as a funder of his work
• Malvern Hills District Council - research partner
• Birmingham City Council - research partner 
• UK Gambling Commission - research partner and funder of his work
• Citizens UK - research partner 
• Christians Against Poverty (CAP) - volunteer and research partner
• International Nepal Fellowship (UK) - charity finance director