Professor Jac Birt

Professor Jac Birt is a professor of accounting and Head of Accounting and Finance at the UWA Business School. Her research areas include international financial reporting standards and accounting education. Professor Birt is the President-Elect of the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand (AFAANZ) and has been a Board Director since 2011. She is also the AFAANZ representative on the International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB).

Professor Birt’s extensive career in education includes positions at the University of Melbourne, ANU, Monash University, the University of Queensland and a visiting position at the Amsterdam Business School. Prior to joining the higher education sector, she taught accounting in secondary schools. Her current research interests span international accounting standards and accounting education, and she is working on several projects with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), with topics including cash flows, insurance contracts and financial instruments. Her education research also investigates the importance of transferable or soft skills for today’s accountants, including UWA students.

As a leader in accounting education, Professor Birt assists with projects relating to accreditation, the implementation of information and communication technologies into the classroom, flipped learning and team-based learning.

Qualifications:

• BBus (RMIT)
• BEd (Melb)
• MBus (RMIT)
• PhD (ANU)

External positions:

• AFAANZ Board Member and President Elect
• IAESB CAG Member
• Business Educators WA Committee Member
• Accounting Research Journal Editorial Advisory Board Member
• Advances in Accounting Education Editorial Review Board Member

Professor Birt has been a supervisor of PhD students for 10 years, covering topics such as:

• Earnings Management in Chinese Companies
• Value Relevance of Management Earnings Forecasts
• Management Earnings Forecasts and Analyst Forecasts
• Direct Versus Indirect Method of Reporting Cash Flows
• Sustainability Reporting in Hong Kong

She welcomes expressions of interest from prospective postgraduate students interested in financial accounting issues – valuation and disclosure and accounting education – accreditation, team-based learning, flipped classrooms and active learning. For more information, contact Professor Birt using the details below.