Professor Margaret Abernethy, AM

Professor Margaret Abernethy holds the Sir Douglas Copland Chair of Commerce, Chair of Managerial Accounting; and is Director of the Melbourne Centre for Corporate Governance and Regulation (MCCGR). A leading researcher in cost accounting, budgeting, performance management and corporate governance, Professor Abernethy has received in excess of $3 million in competitive research grants, provided expert advice to both the public and private sector, as well as serving on a number of boards. Prior to returning to the Department of Accounting in mid-2012, Professor Abernethy served as Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics for over eight years, during which she was instrumental in the implementation of the Melbourne Model, designed and commissioned a new $128m building; and built the reputation and standing of the Faculty as the leading business and economics school in the region. She was awarded the Telstra Business Woman of the Year (Government and Community) in 2008 for her outstanding contribution to higher education, and was inducted to the Australian Accounting Hall of Fame in 2018. Professor Abernethy is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Science

Publications

• 'Organization Identity and Earnings Manipulation' in Accounting, Organizations and Society 58 | 2017 (with Jan Bouwens and Peter Kroos)
• 'Uncertainty as a Determinant of Performance Measurement and Compensation Systems: A Review of the Literature' in Management Control & Uncertainty (eds D.T Otley and K. Soin, London: Palgrave Macmillan) | 2014 (with Julia Mundy)
• 'The Influence of CEO Power on Compensation Contract Design' in The Accounting Review 90(4) | 2015 (with Yu Flora Kuang and Bo Qin)
• For more publications from Professor Margaret Abernethy, visit SSRN.

Research projects

• Top job: appointing CEOs with social capital (16 Nov 2017)