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School of Business and Management

Charles Mario Abela

 Charles Mario Abela

Email: c.m.abela@qmul.ac.uk

Project title

Redefining corporate reporting.

Project description

Corporate reporting was initially developed to provide information for prospective and existing shareholders with information about the performance and position of the company, principally through the financial statements. 

Since the nineteenth century the business model of the firm has continued to evolve, but the reporting framework has failed to keep pace with those changes. Notions of "performance" and "position" are socially constructed and expectations have significantly changed whom corporate reporting is for and what it should be about.

This project traces the development of the “reporting entity” as a concept, based on various notions of the "firm" in the economics literature through to contemporary understandings in accounting and law. The role of the business model is considered in detail using empirical research on the inherent “business model” within the financial statements and broader understandings of the business model within the business.

The research considers the implications of business models for corporate reporting, including the conceptual framework for financial reporting and whether the concept is relevant for corporate reporting.

The policy relevance of this research is that investors and other stakeholders rely on corporate reporting as a principal source of information for making and evaluating resource allocation decisions. A better understanding of how that information can be better aligned to explain the value creating processes within a business is likely to support more informed and economically efficient decision-making and assist directors of a company in discharging their stewardship obligations.

Supervision

1st Supervisor: Professor Colin Haslam
2nd Supervisor: Dr Nick Tsitsianis

Biography

I am an experienced professional accountant having held senior positions in both the public and private sectors.  I am a fellow of both CIMA and CPA Australia.  I have a keen interest in company law and fellow of the European Law Institute.  I have extensive regulatory experience having been involved in standard setting at a global level for both public and private sectors.  I am Director at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development where I lead global projects on management accounting, assurance and governance.  I am also an Adjunct Professor at IESEG in France where I have taught in the master’s programme for many years.  I am passionate about research serve as a reviewer for a number of journals and aim to be published as my research programme progresses after my PhD.

Centre and Group Membership

Publications

  • Abela, M. (2020) Look Again – Company Law has changed, European Company Law Journal, 17(5), 183-191
  • Abela, M. (2020) Paradise Lost: Accounting Narratives without Numbers, Accounting, Economics and Law: A Convivium, 10(2), ahead of print
  • Zambon, S, Marzo, G., Girella, L., Abela, M. and D’Albore, N. (2020), A Literature Review on the Reporting of Intangibles, EFRAG, Brussels http://www.efrag.org/Assets/Download?assetUrl=%2Fsites%2Fwebpublishing%2FSiteAssets%2FA%2520literature%2520review%2520on%2520the%2520reporting%2520of%2520intangibles.pdf
  • Abela, M. (2018) Chapter in Girella, L. (2018) The Boundaries in Financial and Non-Financial Reporting: A Comparative Analysis of their Constitutive Role, Routledge: London
  • Marzo, G., Girella and Abela, M. (2018), Is there a Theory of the Firm for Non-Financial Reporting? The case of Integrated Reporting, Conference Paper, University of Ferrara
  • Girella, L., Abela, M., & Ferrari, E. R. (2018). Conceptual shifts in accounting: Transplanting the notion of boundary from financial to non-financial reporting. FINANCIAL REPORTING, (1), 133–175. https://doi.org/10.3280/FR2018-001005
  • Abela, M. (2016) Integrated Reporting in the UK: What’s the questions? 12th EIASM interdisciplinary workshop on “Intangibles, Intellectual Capital & Extra-financial information, National Research University Higher School of Economics, St Petersburg, Russia, Conference Paper
  • (2016). What is Performance. Retrieved from https://www.icas.com/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/243967/ICAS-What-is-performance.pdf (Contributing Author)
  • Abela, Mario, George Katechos, and Adam Leaver. (2015)"Fair Value Accounting (FVA) in the S&P500: Value relevant information for investors or hazard to society when installed in financialized firms, Conference Paper
  • ICAS/IFAC. (2014). Do we need a road map for financial reporting? Retrieved from https://www.iaasb.org/system/files/publications/files/ICAS-IFAC-roadmap-for-financial-reporting-Jan-2014.pdf (Principal Author)
  • Abela, M., Barker, R., Sommer, R., Teixeira, A., & André, P. (2014). Towards a New Conceptual Framework: Presentations at the Accounting in Europe and European Accounting Association Financial Reporting Standards Committee Symposium. Accounting in Europe, 11(2), 259–271. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449480.2014.959977
  • Abela, M., & Mora, A. (2012). Understanding the Consequences of Accounting Standards in Europe: The Role of EFRAG. Accounting in Europe.
  • Abela, M. (2011). Discussion. Accounting and Business Research.
  • Abela, M. (2008). An article of faith examined. ELT Journal, 19(3), 120–123. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/XIX.3.120
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