Two MBS academics receive prestigious awards

26 Mar 2015

Congratulations to Chris Humphrey, Professor of Accounting and Norman Strong, Professor of Accounting and Finance, who have been honoured by the British Accounting and Finance Association (BAFA)

Professor Norman Strong and Professor Chris Humphrey

Chris (on the right in the photo) has been awarded the Association’s Distinguished Academic Award, while Norman, received a Lifetime Achievement Award. Both received their awards at a celebratory dinner at Old Trafford during BAFA’s annual conference in Manchester earlier this week.

They are the latest in a line of distinguished MBS academics to be honoured by the Association, following in the footsteps of Martin Walker, Bob Scapens and Andrew Stark.

Chris was given the award in recognition of his substantial contribution to UK academic accounting and finance life, and he will now present a paper during next year’s BAFA annual conference which will appear in the British Accounting Review.

Chris said: “I was very honoured to receive the award. In many respects it is a very humbling experience as it makes you realise very clearly how much you have relied on, and learnt, from others. In essence, this is an award for contributions to the academic community, and what really matters most here is the notion of community. The real strength of the accounting and finance discipline in the UK is its respect for diversity and, in quite challenging times, this is something that we must work hard to preserve.”

Commenting on his award, Norman said: “I feel very honoured. During my academic career I have always aimed to publish high-quality research and I hope the award recognises the quality of my research publications in both accounting and finance. It is also testament to my research colleagues and co-authors over the years, and to a steady stream of PhD students who I have had the privilege to supervise. As I approach celebrating 26 years of teaching and research at the University of Manchester I must also acknowledge the support and collegiality that has always been present within the accounting and finance group at Manchester.”

Meanwhile, Norman Strong and Ed Lee, Professor of Accounting and Finance at MBS, have also been awarded the British Accounting Review’s best finance paper for 2014 for their work ‘Did the value premium survive the subprime credit crisis?’.