On Friday 7 June, the new Center of Accounting welcomed academic colleagues, students, business partners as well as former and current external lecturers and invigilators to the inauguration of Center of Accounting. First on the programme was a historical motivation for the establishment of the center by Head of Department of Management Jacob Eskildsen who took the audience on a trip from the early foundation of double entry accounting, passed accounting scandals in the forming years of the auditor profession to the need for accountability at the heart of all business today. Professor Claus Holm, as head of the center, moderated the programme and provided an update of the academic merger of accounting faculty at the Department of Management. The prospects of being able to attract a new generation of academic scholars and establishing new ties to business partners were mentioned as prime ambitions. In addition, he acknowledged the current center members’ great contributions in teaching as well as research excellence.

Three topical presentations had been chosen to demonstrate the span of activities and involvement of both young and senior faculty as well as the all-important interrelationship between accounting and business practice.

• PhD Student Sam Enemark presented a meticulous account of how to gain access to better proxies for the stressful working conditions of auditors by using register-based information, thus being able to tie patterns of psychological distress to audit quality outcomes. This research contribution will be an important part of the PhD dissertation he is currently working on.  
• Head of Performance Management Morten Riber Pryds from ARLA provided a fascinating presentation under the title “Unlocking Business and Sustainability Value: The Power of ESG Beyond Compliance”. He shared how the interaction with both owners and business customers on sustainability has become a key factor in ARLA’s business model.     
• Professor Thomas Borup Kristensen shared important insights on how finance functions can handle a diversity of roles and how this helps to create value for the company. This also includes the conditions under which these roles create value. The research is based on a large Danish survey of over 400 companies and based on accounting data. He further elaborated with perspectives on how the finance function can become more of a business partner in various forms.

The inaugural ceremony finished with a reception where accounting topics were further discussed among both presenters and the many interested visitors.