The Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation (for International Scholarly Exchange) has awarded one of its prestigious scholarships, worth 12,000 Euros, to Yu-Lin Hsu, for 2014-15. She is a doctoral student in the Department of Accounting and Finance at Strathclyde Business School. Yu-Lin’s research topic is: A Stated Preference Approach to the Choice of Financial Reporting Regimes. The principal supervisor is Dr Julia Smith, Reader in Accounting, and the second supervisor is Visiting Professor Gavin C Reid. Yu-Lin is a distinguished graduate (and multiple award holder) of the National Tsing Hua University and the National Taiwan University, and has also undertaken advanced graduate studies with distinction at the University of St Andrews.
Her research explores how firms (large and small) choose their financial regimes and the tools and techniques which support them. This choosing process is examined using a ‘two-stage’ decision model. Developing and testing this model, in particular with reference to the Taiwanese economy (ROC), is a very challenging scientific endeavour, but one that Yu-Lin is well prepared to undertake successfully, having held several research posts in Taiwan. Her results will be of great significance for both the within-firm and the systemic corporate governance of Taiwanese businesses. They will also be important for comparative purposes, including cross-country analysis with the UK. Her findings will help to inform policy debate in the future, as there is rapid change occurring in financial reporting regimes in 2015, and in associated tools and techniques for reporting.
Yu-Lin Hsu has also been awarded a research travel grant of £1,340, of which half comes from the PGR Student Travel Fund, and half for the Accounting and Finance department. This will enable her to accept an invitation to be a research visitor at the National Taiwan University (NTU), from which base she will conduct fieldwork which investigates how financial reporting choices are made by firms. The invitation was extended by Professor of Accounting, Dr Chi-Chun Liu, a graduate in accounting of New York University who is currently chairman of the Department of Accounting, College of Management, NTU. The NTU and its Department of Accounting are both ranked in the top 100 in the world.
Her fieldwork in Taiwan will be conducted this summer and will centre on the cities of Taipei and Kaohsiung and their environs. These cities are among the largest in Taiwan with Taipei, the capital city, being renowned for commerce, banking and light industry, and Kaohsiung, the Harbour Capital, being renowned for heavy industry and maritime services. They present scientifically interesting microcosms of industrial and commercial activity.
Her fieldwork investigation involves face to face semi-structured interviews with CFOs of leading companies, and with Finance Managers/Directors of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). A key aspect of her work is the reporting of intangible assets, including intellectual property (IP), created within a business. Ideally, reporting on IP should be sufficiently faithful to inform potential investors fully about the prospects the firm has for commercialising this IP (e.g. through licensing), yet at the same time should protect the interests of the innovative firm (and those who invest in her), thus preserving the asset value of expensively created IP. As Taiwan is a knowledge-intensive economy, the work that Yu-Lin is undertaking will be of great interest to analysts of the performance of the Taiwanese economy in the global market place. This work will also facilitate comparative analysis between the ROC and the UK (in which Yu-Lin has already been conducting fieldwork on a similar basis).