Wai Fong Chua AM

Citation

Following undergraduate and doctoral studies at the University of Sheffield, Wai Fong Chua has built an international reputation as an innovative and prolific accounting researcher. Focussing on understanding how accounting operates as a ‘socio-technical’ technology she has conducted studies on accounting issues from the management of strategic supply chains in the private sector, to the use of public-private-partnerships for infrastructure development and the implementation of DRG costing in Australian hospitals. Her work demonstrates how accounting changes social routines and patterns of meaning in organisations. Wai Fong has published consistently in top journals and continues to attract significant competitive grant funding. She is an editor of Accounting, Organizations and Society and has sat on editorial boards of The Accounting Review and Contemporary Research in Accounting. Wai Fong Chua has taught in a variety of undergraduate and postgraduate programs and a range of executive education programs. She co-wrote an innovative management accounting textbook titled, Managerial Accounting, Method and Meaning, that reflected the notion of management accounting as a ‘socio- technical’ discipline.  In 1994 Wai Fong Chua was promoted by the University of New South Wales (UNSW) as the first female professor in accounting in Australia.  In 1998 she started a niche management accounting conference that drew high-profile scholars from the US and Europe. This conference has since expanded to become the Global Management Accounting Symposium (GMARS) with Copenhagen Business School and Michigan State University as partner institutions. As Head of the School of Accounting at UNSW from 2001 to 2006 she managed growth in student numbers and retained the school’s ranking as one of the top schools in Australia. As Senior Associate Dean of the Faculty of Commerce and Economics from 2006 to 2010 she was responsible for the operational management of nine Schools including the merger between the Faculty and the Australian Graduate School of Management.  As Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Enterprise Systems) from 2010 to 2012 and Pro-Vice Chancellor (Students) in 2012 she oversaw the implementation of a student enterprise system, improvements to the student experience and an increase in the admission of disadvantaged students from remote and regional Australia.  Wai Fong moved to the University of Sydney in 2016 where as Deputy Head (Research) she redesigned the honours program, reinvigorated the visitor program and a introduced a new conference series called Accounting as a Social and Organizational Practice.  Wai Fong served on the Council of Pymble Ladies’ College for 10 years and worked on the Finance and Scholarships Committee.  Wai Fong Chua was elected to the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 2008, awarded Membership of the Order of Australia in January 2009 and an honorary doctorate from the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland in 2009. She also received a Notable Contribution to the Accounting and Finance Research Literature Award from the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand in 2009.

The Australian Accounting Hall of Fame honours Wai Fong Chua as a scholar and administrator of the highest order.

Biography

Wai Fong Chua has made an outstanding contribution in Australia and internationally to accounting both in her research and teaching but also in her significant leadership contributions to the university sector.

Following undergraduate and doctoral studies at the University of Sheffield, Wai Fong has built an international reputation as an innovative and prolific accounting researcher. Focusing on understanding how accounting operates as a social practice within firms and societies, she has conducted studies on diverse accounting issues from the management of strategic supply chains in the private sector to the use of public-private-partnerships for infrastructure development and the implementation of Diagnosis-Related-Group costing in Australian hospitals. In general, her work has emphasised the need to understand accounting as a ‘socio-technical’ technology and the way in which accounting changes social routines, interests and patterns of meaning in organizations.  She is a pioneer in her research as she studies ‘accounting in action’ - accounting as it is enacted in organizations. This is time-consuming as it requires gaining access to organizations and earning trust to enable close observation of practice. The aim is to understand how and why people use accounting in the way they do and to map their effects in a holistic and rigorous manner. It is also a risky strategy as it is difficult to publish in top tier North American journals. Wai Fong has been a leader in developing this area of research as recognized by her continued success in publishing in top tier journals, including North American journals.

As well as an enviable publication record, Wai Fong has continued to attract significant competitive grant funding. During her time at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), she has attracted nearly $900,000 of competitive grant funding and been involved with projects funded to the value of $1.5m. Recently, she was awarded significant international grant funding for projects investigating the behavioural effects of benchmarking the quality of local municipality services in Sweden and the measurement of climate change risk in Australia. She is also investigating the use of data analytics and gamification as control levers in organizations. She remains an editor of Accounting, Organizations and Society and sits on or has sat on editorial boards of numerous journals including The Accounting Review and Contemporary Research in Accounting.

Wai Fong has taught in a variety of undergraduate and postgraduate programs and a diverse range of executive education programs specialising in the design of management control systems and implementing corporate sustainability/responsibility. She co-wrote, with Dick Wilson from the University of Sheffield, an innovative management accounting textbook titled Managerial Accounting, Method and Meaning that reflected her philosophy of management accounting as a “socio- technical” discipline. This philosophy was subsequently integrated in curriculum redesign initiatives of courses at UNSW such as Managerial Dynamics and the second-year management accounting course so that it was more case-based and connected to practice. She has also embraced online education by developing several online management accounting modules offered by the Australian Centre of Management Accounting Development, and the online Master of Business Technology at UNSW.

In 1994 Wai Fong was promoted internally by UNSW, becoming the first female professor in accounting in Australia.  She has been ranked as the second most productive researcher in the period 1991-2001 in the Asia-Pacific region by publication count of the top 5 accounting journals and as one of the top 50 managerial accounting researchers globally again by publication count in eleven journals over a 20-year period 1990-2009. Wai Fong started the first niche management accounting conference in Australia in 1988 that drew high-profile scholars both from the US and Europe. Funded by sponsorship from three accounting bodies and the publisher Elsevier, the conference, which was initially held on a biennial basis, was subsequently expanded to become the Global Management Accounting Symposium (GMARS) with Copenhagen Business School and Michigan State University as partner institutions.

As Head of the School of Accounting at UNSW from 2001 to 2006, Wai Fong ensured the School managed its significant growth in student numbers efficiently whilst at the same time retaining its ranking as one of the top schools in Australia. She was the Senior Associate Dean of the Faculty of Commerce and Economics from 2006 to 2010, responsible for the operational management of all nine Schools including the merger between the Faculty and the Australian Graduate School of Management.  As Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Enterprise Systems) from 2010 to 2012 she oversaw the implementation of a new student enterprise system.  As Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Students) in 2012 she oversaw numerous improvements to the student experience and expansion in the admission of disadvantaged students from remote and regional Australia.  Wai Fong moved to the University of Sydney in 2016 where, as Head of Research in Accounting, she has redesigned the undergraduate Honours Program, strengthened international linkages through a reinvigorated Research Visitor Program, set up a new Readings Group, brown bag discussion forums and a conference series called Accounting as a Social and Organizational Practice.

Wai Fong also has a keen and active interest in the education of young women. She served on the Council of Pymble Ladies’ College for 10 years. In that capacity, she worked on the Finance Committee and the Scholarships Committee of the College and helped to strengthen relationships between the College and UNSW.

Wai Fong Chua was elected to the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 2008, awarded Membership of the Order of Australia in January 2009 for services to research, mentoring and university and an honorary doctorate from the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland in 2009. She also received a Notable Contribution to the Accounting and Finance Research Literature Award from the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand in 2009.