Australian Academy of Accounting and Finance Review

Professor Gary Tian, Professor of Finance, Macquarie University Sydney, Australia

Gary is Professor of Finance at Macquarie University Sydney. He has published extensively in the areas of political connections, CEO compensation, bank lending, corporate governance and market microstructure. Over the last five years he has published five A* ranked journal articles along with many A ranked articles including the J of Corporate Finance (2011, 2012, 2013, 2015) and J of Banking and Finance (2015). Currently he has other five papers under second round revision with top and leading finance journals. Over the last five years, he successfully supervised his nine PhD students to completion within the required time. Among these students, two received their PhD with special commendation from the examiners for their outstanding theses. Last year, as one of CIs, he secured the only ARC Discovery Grant in the field of finance. He won a Best Paper Award from the Financial Management Association in 2011 and the 2013 Runner up Award from Corporate Governance: An International Review. Currently he serves as the Secretary of the Asian Finance Association and a member of the editorial board for the Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy.

Professor Julie Cotter, Professor of Accounting and Director of Australian Centre for Sustainable Business and Development, University of Southern Queensland, Australia

Professor Julie Cotter is the Director of the Australian Centre for Sustainable Business and Development, a research centre of the University of Southern Queensland. In this capacity, she leads a multidisciplinary group of researchers and PhD students in the creation of evidence based solutions to sustainable business and development problems. Julie and her colleagues engage with government, industry and community stakeholders to provide practical research and development outcomes. Current research interests include access to external equity finance for Australian agribusinesses and related governance and business models.

Julie is also an experienced company director. She Chairs the Chambers of Commerce and Industries Queensland ecoBiz Program Advisory Committee. Professor Cotter was a finalist in the category ‘Outstanding contributions to policy development’ in the 100 Women in Australian Agribusiness 2014 list. She is a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD), a Chartered Accountant and a Fellow of CPA Australia

Professor Peter Best, Professor of Accounting, CQ University, Australia

Peter Best is Professor and Head of the Department of Accounting, Economics, Finance & Property, at Central Queensland University. He has held positions at University of Newcastle, University of Adelaide, Flinders University, QUT, University of Southern Queensland and Griffith University. He has qualifications in accounting, operations research and information technology. His PhD examined the feasibility of machine-independent audit trail analysis in large computer systems. His teaching, research and consulting experience includes business intelligence and data mining (SAS), enterprise systems (SAP), information systems security & audit (SAP), sustainability reporting & assurance, computer assisted audit techniques (SAS, ACL), automated fraud detection and audit trail analysis. He is also the co-author of the series of BDO Not-for-Profit Surveys 2006-2014. He is a Fellow, CPA Australia, and a Chartered Accountant.