About us

The Centre for Accounting, Governance, and Taxation Research works collaboratively with industry professionals to enhance research in these fields.

The Centre for Accounting, Governance, and Taxation Research (CAGTR) was established within the School of Accounting and Commercial Law in May 2001. The Centre's goal is to advance and apply knowledge that is relevant to the accounting and legal professions, to business, and to the public sector. This is done through the development, conduct, and dissemination of research—both fundamental and applied—in the areas of accounting, governance, and taxation.

The research process of the Centre ensures that its work is relevant and practical and that it contributes to development in the Asia–Pacific region.

We bring researchers together with members of the accounting and legal professions, representatives of commerce and industry, and members of the public sector. We promote discussion and exploration of issues, ideas, and analysis of relevant work.

To date, this has been achieved through four principal avenues—seminars, working papers, the Don Trow Visiting Fellowship, and conferences.

About CAGTR activities

The Centre for Accounting, Governance, and Taxation Research runs a Business Links Seminar and Webinar series for the business and public sector communities. In these events, leading academics and professionals present on current issues.

CAGTR has a Working Paper series that publishes research conducted by School staff and others on topics that are relevant to the work of the Centre and of interest to the constituency.

We also have an Occasional Papers webpage where we publish research from different projects undertaken by the Centre.

The Don Trow Visiting Fellowship provides for a prominent academic each year to visit the School and to present to the Centre’s constituency. Visiting Fellows have included top academics such as Professor David Emanuel (University of Auckland), Professor Peter Easton (Notre Dame University, Indiana, US), Professor Stephen Zeff (Rice University, Texas, US), Professor Katherine Schipper (Duke University, North Carolina, US), and Professor Paul Griffin, from the Graduate School of Management, University of California, Davis, US.

The 2019 Visiting Fellow was Professor John Wanna, the Sir John Bunting Chair of Public Administration at ANU University. John was one of the speakers at the Public Finance Act at 30 Conference, organised by the School of Accounting and Commercial Law.

The Visiting Fellow for 2020/21 is Professor Wayne Landsman, who is the KPMG Distinguished Professor of Accounting at Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, US.

The Visiting Fellow in 2022 will be Professor Stephen Penman,who is the George O. May Professor of Financial Accounting and Co-Director of the Centre for Excellence in Accounting and Security Analysis at the Graduate School of Business, Columbia University.

About our conferences

In 2006, CAGTR staged a major international conference on GST, and in November 2008 a conference on Corporate and Public Governance. In February 2009 we held (with ISCR) a conference on tax policy. Following this, the Centre—in partnership with Treasury and Inland Revenue—facilitated work by the Tax Working Group that addressed key medium-term tax policy challenges facing New Zealand.

Following a public conference held in December that year, the Group’s report was subsequently issued in January 2010. It had a major impact on the shape of the Government’s tax measures announced in the 2010 Budget.

In February 2010, CAGTR held a conference on the possible adoption of International Public Sector Financial Reporting Standards by New Zealand public sector entities. In October that year, we held a conference on the new regulatory framework for Financial Reporting and Auditing.

In 2011, CAGTR hosted the NZ Management Accounting Conference. In late 2012 we held our first conference directed at the not-for-profit sector, titled 'Getting Governance and Accountability Right'. In April 2013, the Centre organised the 4th Financial Markets and Corporate Governance Conference, the first time this conference was held outside Australia.

From 2014 to 2016, we held a number of not-for-profit mini-conferences to address current issues of relevance to the sector. In 2017, the Centre hosted the 8th Financial Markets and Corporate Governance Conference in conjunction with the School of Economics and Finance and the School of Accounting and Commercial Law.

In November 2018, the Centre co-hosted, with the Tax Policy Scholarship Charitable Trust, the Tax Working Group public symposium titled 'The Future of Tax in New Zealand'. It was a well-attended one-day symposium.

In October 2022 the Centre will co-host the 32nd Asian-Pacific Conference on International Accounting Issues.

Advisory Board

An Advisory Board provides advice and feedback to the Centre on its activities. If you would like to be added to our mailing list, please email accounting-research@vuw.ac.nz.