Simon Gao
Simon Gao

Prof Simon Gao

Professor

Biography

Simon has been Professor of Accounting and Finance at Edinburgh Napier University Business School (Scotland) since 1999. Prior to Edinburgh Napier, Simon was Reader, Senior Lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University, Senior Lecturer at Staffordshire University, and Lecturer at University of Central Lancashire.

Simon has PhD from Erasmus University Rotterdam and published over 70 articles in the areas of CSR, environmental reporting, financing efficiency of low‐carbon companies, financial risk management, corporate governance, and accounting and finance in emerging economies. Simon's publications appear in Business Strategy and the Environment, European Journal of Finance; International Small Business Journal; Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Finance, Journal of International Financial Management & Accounting, Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, and Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, among others.

Simon has supervised over 23 PhD and DBA students, and examined over 15 PhDs. Simon is now supervising five PhD and one DBA projects. Simon is accounting editor for Afro-Asian Journal of Finance and Accounting and on editorial boards of 10 international journals. Simon is also visiting professor to nine overseas universities.

Simon was former Head of Subject of Accountancy, Finance and Law, at the Business School; now is Business School Academic Lead (China) and Programme Leader of both BA/BA (Hons) Finance Services with Yunnan University of Finance and Economics (China), and BA/BA (Hons) Finance Services with Guizhou University of Finance and Economics (China).

Events

Esteem

Conference Organising Activity

  • International Symposium on Accounting & Finance Issues in the Insurance Sector, Chengdu, China
  • International Symposium on Chinese Accounting and Finance, Preston, UK
  • The Scotdoc (Accounting & Finance) Annual Conference, Edinburgh, UK
  • The First International Symposium on the Risk Services Industry in Emerging Economies, Taipei, Taiwan.

 

Editorial Activity

  • Consulting Editor, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AUDITING AND ACCOUNTING STUDIES
  • Associate Editor, Emerging Markets Finance and Trade
  • The editorial advisory board, PSU Research Review: An International Journal
  • Associate editor, Studies in Economics and Finance.
  • The editorial board of Journal of Finance and Management in Public Services.
  • Consulting Editor, Afro-Asian Journal of Finance and Accounting (AAJFA).
  • The editorial board of Journal of Enterprise Risk Management
  • Guest editor for the special issue “Risk Management
  • The editorial review board of International Journal of Risk and Contingency Management (IJRCM).
  • The editorial board of Asian Journal of Finance & Accounting
  • The editorial board of International Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Performance Evaluation (IJAAPE).
  • The editorial board of Journal of Chinese Economics & Foreign Trade Studies.
  • Guest editor for the special issue “Accounting and Risk”, IJAAPE. Special issue appeared in November 2007.
  • The editorial advisory and review board of Journal of Financial Reporting & Accounting.
  • The editorial board of Serbian Journal of Management, an International Journal for Theory and Practice of Management Science.
  • Accounting editor, Afro-Asian Journal of Finance and Accounting.

 

External Examining/Validations

  • External assessor for the Validation of MSc Investment Management and Review of MSc Financial Management, Middlesex University, UK
  • Advisor to the Economic Planning Department, Rostov, Russia
  • MBA Corporate Finance External Assessor, Lublin Business School, Poland
  • External examiner, MSc Financial Management, Middlesex University, UK
  • External member of validation panel of BA/BA (Hons) Accounting and Finance (offered at INTI College Sabah, Malaysia), University of Hertfordshire, UK
  • MBA - ‘Corporate Finance’ course facilitator, University of South Australia, Australia
  • Chair of viva examination panel, Masters in insurance accounting – Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE), China
  • External examiner, ‘Business Organisation & Finance’, Institute of Risk Management, UK
  • Masters’ thesis and viva examiner, SWUFE, China
  • External member of validation panel of BA (Hons) Accounting and MSc Accounting (to be offered at Rushmore Business School, Mauritius), Leeds Metropolitan University, UK
  • External member of validation panel of BA/BA (Hons) Accounting, BA/BA (Hons) Management, MSc Accounting and Financial Management, University of Newport, UK
  • External member of validation panel of BA/BA (Hons) Accounting, University of Ulster, UK
  • External member of validation panel of MSc Finance and Investment (to be offered at INTI International Colleges, Subang & Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), University of Hertfordshire, UK
  • External member of validation panel of MSc International Finance Management programmes, University of Central Lancashire, UK
  • MBA - ‘Corporate Finance’ course facilitator, University of South Australia, Australia
  • External Advisor to periodic course reviews of higher education provision at Shenzhen University and Beijing Institute of Technology of University of Central Lancashire, UK
  • External examiner for Accounting and Finance modules for undergraduate and postgraduate Provision for Staffordshire University and Partnership with APU/APIIT Malaysia
  • Assessor, MBA’s modules ‘Accounting’ and ‘Finance’, Heriot-Watt University, UK
  • External examiner, MSc Financial Management, University of West Scotland, UK
  • Validation panel for HNC/HND Financial Services, Scottish Vocational Education Council
  • MAcc: ‘Capital budgeting in the upstream oil and gas industry’, by A. Johnson
  • External examiner, MSc Financial Management, Glasgow Caledonian University, UK
  • External examiner, “China Taxation”, the Association of International Accountants.
  • External examiner, Foundation Degree in Accounting, University of Central Lancashire, UK
  • External examiner, MSc Financial Management, University of West Scotland, UK
  • External examiner, BA Credit Management, Thames Valley University, UK
  • External examiner, MSc Financial Management, Robert Gordon University, UK

 

Fellowships and Awards

  • The Third Prize from the Accounting Society of China for the article “Fraudulent Financial Reporting and Its Prevention and Supervision in Listed Companies: - An Empirical Study on Fraudulent Financial Reporting from China” published in Accounting Researc
  • The Best Paper award “Financial Risk Management in Small Business - Perceptions and Current Practices of Chinese Small Firms”, the International Conference on Innovation and Management
  • The Best Paper Award "The Impact of Target Capital Structure and Market Mispricing on Takeover Financing: Empirical Evidence from China" for Global Review of Accounting and Finance

 

Grant Reviewer

  • External reviewer for Qatar National Research Fund

 

Invited Speaker

  • Accounting and Finance in the Era of Big Data
  • Risk management in the era of big data: Challenges and opportunities
  • Tax, equity and poverty: Lessons learned from Mr. Xia Daoping’s analysis of taxation
  • Using big data for corporate responsibility reporting

 

Research Degree External Examining

  • PhD: LIQUIDITY OF MALAYSIAN PUBLIC LISTED FIRMS by Chia Yee Ee
  • PhD: ‘The effect of selected institutional factors on earnings management in Malaysian firms’, by Ms. W. M. W. Mohammad,
  • MAcc: ‘The effects of FRS139 adoption on the performance of non-financial public listed companies in Malaysia’ by Ms. G. C. Yee,
  • PhD: ‘The adoption of IAS/IFRS: the case of Greece’, by E. Chatzivgeri,
  • PhD: ‘The effectiveness of management accounting techniques within the Libyan People’s Committees of municipalities’, by A.A.R. Tahar,
  • 10 DBA projects, Shanghai Jiaotong University and ESC Rennes School of Business, France
  • PhD: ‘Factors affecting the performance of microfinancing institutions’, by G.N. Nanayakkara,
  • PhD: ‘Managing social risks and responsibilities through stakeholder engagement: a case study of Public-Private-Partnership/Private Finance Initiative in the UK’, by F. L. Min,
  • 15 DBA Projects, Shanghai Jiaotong University and ESC Rennes School of Business, France
  • PhD: ‘Internet financial reporting in Saudi Arabia: users’ perceptions and disclosure’, by K. Abduallah Al-Motrafi
  • 20 DBA Projects, Shanghai Jiaotong University and ESC Rennes School of Business, France
  • PhD: ‘Organisational stakeholders and alternative models of social responsibility and reporting’, by D.G. Woodward, University of Southampton
  • PhD: ‘Perceptions and effectiveness of the IR function in Greece’, by N. Demos,
  • PhD: ‘Technical efficiency of insurers in China – Evaluation, exploration and policy recommendations’, by Z. Han,
  • PhD: ‘An investigation into the willingness of Chinese listed companies to participate in corporate environmental reporting’ by Y.Y. Hu
  • PhD: ‘The role and capital structures of development banks’, by J. Agholor,
  • PhD: ‘A comparative study and critical evaluation of group accounting in Germany, France and the United Kingdom’, by H.J. Fortes
  • PhD: ‘The perception and management of pollution risks in Taiwan’s electric utility’, by M.M.C. Sung

 

Reviewing

  • Carbon Accounting, Management and Finance - a book proposal for Palgrave Macmillan
  • External reviewer for professorial promotions at the University of Sharjah
  • External reviewer for professorial promotions at UAE University

 

Visiting Positions

  • Visiting Professor, Huanggang Normal University, China
  • Visiting Professor, the Beacon Business School, New Beacon Group, Stafford, UK
  • Visiting Professor, ESC Rennes School of Business, France

 

Date


49 results

Life insurance misselling and the influences of client attributes: evidence from China

Journal Article
Bi, S., & Gao, S. (2023)
Life insurance misselling and the influences of client attributes: evidence from China. Asian Journal of Business Ethics, 12, 219–237. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13520-023-00171-8
Prior studies have extensively explored factors that drive misselling behavior in life insurance markets, but considered little the influences of attributes of clients (partic...

Market reactions to voluntary disclosures of a strategic alliance agreement: evidence from China

Journal Article
Zhang, X., Li, W., & Gao, S. (in press)
Market reactions to voluntary disclosures of a strategic alliance agreement: evidence from China. Spanish Journal of Finance and Accounting / Revista Española de Financiación y Contabilidad, https://doi.org/10.1080/02102412.2022.2051322
This paper examines the market reaction to strategic alliance agreements (SAAs), a prevalent yet previously uninvestigated corporate voluntary disclosure practice. We document...

Gender diversity and financial statement fraud

Journal Article
Wang, Y., Yu, M., & Gao, S. (2022)
Gender diversity and financial statement fraud. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 41(2), Article 106903. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2021.106903
This study investigates the role of gender diversity in fraud commission and detection with a view to identifying whether companies with more female corporate leaders are less...

The impact of economic freedom on financial analysts' earnings forecast: Evidence from the Asia-Pacific region

Journal Article
Hou, T. C., & Gao, S. (2021)
The impact of economic freedom on financial analysts' earnings forecast: Evidence from the Asia-Pacific region. Finance Research Letters, 43, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.frl.2021.102009
This study investigates the impact of economic freedom (EcF) on analysts’ earnings forecast (AEF) accuracy. EcF is measured from five aspects: Government, Protection, Money, T...

Impact of Carbon Emission Trading System Participation and Level of Internal Control on Quality of Carbon Emission Disclosures: Insights from Chinese State-Owned Electricity Companies

Journal Article
Tan, D., Bilal, , Gao, S., & Komal, B. (2020)
Impact of Carbon Emission Trading System Participation and Level of Internal Control on Quality of Carbon Emission Disclosures: Insights from Chinese State-Owned Electricity Companies. Sustainability, 12, https://doi.org/10.3390/su12051788
In recent years, the quality of carbon emission disclosures has become a central area of concern for different stakeholders of companies. Specifically, stakeholders of state‐o...

An empirical examination of IPO underpricing between high-technology and non-high-technology firms in Taiwan

Journal Article
Hou, T., & Gao, S. (2019)
An empirical examination of IPO underpricing between high-technology and non-high-technology firms in Taiwan. Journal of Emerging Market Finance, 18(1), https://doi.org/10.1177/0972652719831535
This study investigates the determinants of initial public offering (IPO) underpricing by focusing on variables relating to information asymmetry, investor sentiment, and corp...

A quantitative study of financing efficiency of low‐carbon companies: A three‐stage data envelopment analysis

Journal Article
Liu, X., Yu, X., & Gao, S. (2019)
A quantitative study of financing efficiency of low‐carbon companies: A three‐stage data envelopment analysis. Business Strategy and the Environment, 28(5), 858-871. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2288
This study set out to evaluate the financing efficiency of low‐carbon companies. Applying a three‐stage data envelopment analysis with the data from 85 listed companies in Chi...

An empirical study of relationships between accounting conservatism and executive compensation-performance sensitivity

Journal Article
Zhang, X., Gao, S., & Zeng, Y. (2019)
An empirical study of relationships between accounting conservatism and executive compensation-performance sensitivity. International Journal of Accounting and Information Management, 27(1), 130-150. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijaim-01-2018-0002
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between accounting conservatism and executive compensation-performance sensitivity with a view to identifying th...

Accountability in Islamic financial institution: the role of the Shari’ah supervisory board reports

Journal Article
Aribi, Z. A., Gao, S., & Arun, T. (2019)
Accountability in Islamic financial institution: the role of the Shari’ah supervisory board reports. Journal of Islamic Accounting and Business Research, 10(1), 98-114. https://doi.org/10.1108/jiabr-10-2015-0049
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore whether any discrepancy exists between the disclosed in SSB reports of Islamic banks and the disclosure index which was based o...

Contemporary Financial Risk Management Perceptions and Practices of Small-Sized Chinese Businesses

Book Chapter
Gao, S., Oreal, S., & Zhang, J. (2018)
Contemporary Financial Risk Management Perceptions and Practices of Small-Sized Chinese Businesses. In Global Business Expansion: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications, (917-931). USA: IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-5481-3.ch041
This study investigated the current perceptions and practices of financial risk management at small businesses in China. The researchers took an interpretative approach, using...

Current Post Grad projects

Previous Post Grad projects

Non-Napier PhD or MSc by Research supervisions

  • DBA: Bubble Theory and Stock Market Crash - A Case Study of the American and Egyptian Stock Markets, by Ahmed Farghaly Hafez