Ernst & Young and Erasmus School of Economics join forces to conduct accountancy research

On Friday 29 June 2012, Ernst & Young and Erasmus School of Economics announced that they would be undertaking joint research on external reporting and corporate governance. This collaboration, which brings together the research expertise of Erasmus School of Economics and the knowledge and experience of Ernst & Young, will help the business world tackle the challenges of the future in the field of financial accounting and corporate governance.

The research will focus on current challenges facing the business world. In consultation with its clients, Ernst & Young will identify those challenges and then, in conjunction with Erasmus School of Economics, will determine which of them can best be addressed together by their academics and business professionals.

Over time, the collaboration will also focus on training and development, making a contribution to the development of the next generation of accounting professionals and business leaders. These training and development activities will be aimed at both students and business professionals.

Jaap Hetebrij from Ernst & Young says: “Good co-operation between the business and academic worlds is important to us, to our clients and to businesses. Our collaboration with Erasmus School of Economics forms part of the recently launched Ernst & Young Academic Network. Other leading European universities participating in the network are: HEC (Paris), Bocconi (Milan), Cass Business School (London) and Mannheim University (Germany).”

Philip Hans Franses, Dean of Erasmus School of Economics, adds: “The collaboration ties in with the strategy of our School to develop excellent knowledge and to transfer and apply that knowledge as well. Erasmus School of Economics aims to share its knowledge and research expertise with the business world in order to make a contribution to society. At the same time, our interaction with the business world will enrich our research, helping us to achieve our objective of developing excellent knowledge. This initiative ties in perfectly with our strategy and I look forward to collaborating with Ernst & Young for many years to come."