s.ahmad31@aston.ac.uk

0121 204 5288

As an Accounting academic my primary motivation is to contribute to improving public policy and practice through research and dissemination of knowledge. To align my research to this motivation, I aim to explore and better understand the roles and implications of management accounting as technologies for control, governance and in operationalizing public policies.

Areas of interest for research (Qualitative / mixed-methods):

• Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) / Private Finance Initiative (PFI)
• Management control issues in public sector and inter-organizational settings.
• Governance / performance management frameworks operationalized in the higher education sector.
• Government's response to Covid-19/pandemics and other crises.
• Embedding and operationalising SDGs as part of organisational strategy.

Presently I am supervising three doctoral students. Two are DBAs, one of whom is looking at the operationalization of CSR in the Caribbean region, by the multi-national corporations. The other DBA project is chiefly concerned with conflict management in Bostwana's major infrastructure projects. The third doctoral supervision is of a PhD project, focusing on examining SDGs' implementation and disclosure by Kuwait's public / private organisations.

My main teaching (and research) interest is in Management Accounting.

At Aston I have been teaching on UG first-year accounting modules to both specialist and non-specialist students, including module-lead role for the non-specialist accounting module.

At PG level, I am involved in teaching Management and Strategic Management Accounting modules for the MSc Accounting and Finance and the Aston-Online (MBA) programme. Besides, I also facilitate PG and PGR students for their Research Methods modules.

I regularly supervise MSc (research) dissertation and project students as well as the UG Year-3 work placement students.

Presently I am involved as a co-researcher, in two seed-corn funded research projects. The first project is sponsored by CIMA, in which the research team is working towards developing a practitioners' case study about the role of management accounting and accountants, in the operationalisation of sustainability. The participant case study organisation for this project is a UK-based commercial automotive manufacturer. The planned completion date for this project is end of March 2024.

The other project is internally funded by Aston, under their Policy Support Funding scheme. Along with two other accounting academics from Aston, we are a research team of 3 members, seeking to further our understanding on the pricing and accountability practices in this sector, in relation to service charge costs. Particularly, in the first phase of the project, the research team aims to learn the perceptions of the tenants about service charges and how that impact on their well being. The first phase is planned to be completed by end of July 2024.