August Newsletter 2025

AFAANZ Board Update: Farewells, Welcomes, and New Portfolios

As of 1 August, we farewelled the immediate past President (Australia) Marvin Wee and two valued members of the AFAANZ Board:

Professor Marvin Wee has been an AFAANZ Board director from 2017-2025 and has served as the Australian President in 2023-2025. While on the AFAANZ Board Marvin has also worked and contributed to the Conference, Doctoral Symposium and Research portfolios. He has been a dedicated and hard-working director and a President who led with great integrity and leadership. We thank Marvin for all of his efforts in building a stronger AFAANZ.

Dr David Bond, who stepped down after an exceptional eight years of service. David brought energy and dedication to every portfolio he held—including Education, Conference, Social Media/Digital, Diversity Strategy and Special Interest Groups (SIGs). His contributions have significantly shaped the development and growth of our association’s engagement across these areas.

Professor Craig Deegan, who completed his two-year term. Craig played an important role in strengthening our SIGs, the AFAANZ Education Forum and Doctoral Symposium. We thank him for his commitment and valued contributions.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to Marvin, David and Craig for their outstanding service to AFAANZ.

At the same time, we are pleased to welcome two new members to the Board: (1) Professor Martin Bugeja (University of Technology Sydney), and (2) Associate Professor George Wu (Massey University). We also welcome back Dr Nicola Beatson (University of Otago), who rejoins the Board after stepping down in 2024. In addition, we congratulate Associate Professor Lily Chen (Australian National University) and Professor Michaela Rankin (Monash University) on their re-election to the Board.

With these changes, the updated portfolio responsibilities of the AFAANZ Board members are as follows:

Co-Presidents: Nives Botica Redmayne and Yaowen Shan
Treasurer: Michaela Rankin
Education: Nicola Beatson
Research, Research Training and Mentoring: Michaela Rankin and Martin Bugeja
Conference: Nicola Beatson and George Wu
Doctoral Symposium: Julie Harrison and Lily Chen
SIGs and Webinars: Sumit Lodhia
Social Media Strategies: Lily Chen

We look forward to another productive year ahead and thank all Board members—past and present—for their continued contributions to our academic community.

Unlock the Power of AI: Join the AFAANZ Pop-Up Forum!

Mark Your Calendar for 12 September 2025

Ready to lead your department into the future? Don’t miss the AFAANZ inaugural Pop-Up Forum on 12 September 2025 at the Auckland CA ANZ offices! Connect with trailblazing speakers from both industry and academia as they share real-world insights at the cutting edge of AI.

Boost your expertise in artificial intelligence with hands-on, interactive workshop sessions.
Network with thought leaders and peers passionate about innovation in accounting and finance.
Take actionable skills back to your department and make a real impact.

Spaces are limited—secure your spot today and be part of the conversation shaping tomorrow’s education using AI!

Registration is now open.

Date: Friday 12 September 2025

Time: 10.00am to 4.30pm NZST

Registration Fee: $100, PhD Students $55. AFAANZ Members will receive a 10% discount on checkout

Where: Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, Level 5, 8 Tangihua Street, Auckland Central, New Zealand

Click HERE to register.

AFAANZ Doctoral Education Network (AFDEN)

Python Coding for Accounting and Finance Research

AFAANZ is proud to present the following research training course facilitated by Dr Leonard Leye Li

Overview

This course is designed to equip doctoral students and early career researchers in accounting and finance with foundational and practical skills in Python programming, tailored specifically for empirical research. We will cover core programming concepts, data manipulation techniques, and statistical analysis methods using Python. Emphasis will be placed on applications to real-world accounting and finance data, such as Compustat, CRSP, and textual data. Through hands-on assignments and coding exercises, students will learn how to efficiently clean data, perform statistical testing, and visualize results. The goal is not only to become competent in coding but also to use Python as a tool to enhance the quality and efficiency of academic research.

The outline that follows provides a brief description of the material that is covered in the course. The course consists of one 2-hour online Introductory Module, which introduces the Python fundamentals for research (Module1), one 2-hour online module covering the Pandas framework and handling and analysing data (Module 2), and two in-person sessions on using WRDS with Python and textual analysis (Module 3) and other broader empirical methods related to the use of Python (Module 4).

The first day will be held online and the second day will be held in-person at the UNSW Sydney campus:

Modules 1-2: Monday 1 September 2025, four hours, online, 10:00 - 12:00 and 13:00 - 15:00
Modules 3-4: Monday 12 September 2025, four hours, in person (Room BUS 118 at UNSW Sydney), 10:00 - 12:00 and 13:00 - 15:00

Final Assessment Due: Monday 26 September 2025, 5.00pm.

Course outline is available HERE .

This course will be limited to 10 attendees - to register your interest, click HERE .