Dr Carien van Mourik

Professional biography

I joined The Open University Business School as a lecturer in accounting in April 2007 after completing my PhD at Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The title of my dissertation is Globalisation and the Role of Financial Accounting Information in Japan. Having completed a BA and MA in Japanese Studies at Leiden University, I spent three years at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo for my PhD research during the 'Japanese accounting big bang'. This experience continues to influence my research interests and perspective to this day. 

Research interests

One strand of my research focuses on normative financial accounting theory, particularly in the area of approaches to income determination and financial performance concepts, but also more generally the history of thought in accounting, finance, and economics. I am particularly interested in ways to bridge different theoretical perspectives.

A second strand focuses on the development, implementation, and history of accounting conceptual frameworks such as those of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), and the Accounting Standards Board of Japan (ASBJ).

Thirdly, I am interested in the use of financial and other reporting information for investment, stewardship, performance measurement, and social, economic and ecological accountability purposes across different institutional contexts and jurisdictions.

Finally, I seek to better understand and reconcile different perspectives on the public interest in international external reporting standard setting, research, education, and practise. 

Teaching interests

I am currently teaching:

• Financial accounting in context (B293)
• MSc Finance dissertation (B895)
• MBA elective: Contemporary issues in organisations (BB853).

Impact and engagement

As my research concerns the (IASB)'s Conceptual Framework, I have contributed comment letters on the IASB's Discussion Papers and Exposure Drafts related to the Conceptual Framework (2010, 2015, 2018) and the IFRS Foundation's stategy review documents (2011).

With Chris Humphrey, I prepared 'Public Interest Entities (PIEs) director and statutory auditor public interest statements - A Note for the Brydon Review' which was included as Appendix 7 in Sir Donald Brydon's 2019 report of the independent review of the quality and effectiveness of audit entitled Assess, Assure, and Inform: Improving Audit Quality and Effectiveness. 

External collaborations

I have collaborated with Yuko Asami (formerly Katsuo) of Gakushuin University in Tokyo on the papers: 

• 'The IASB and ASBJ Conceptual Frameworks: Same Objective, Different Financial Performance Concepts' which was published in 2015 in Accounting Horizons, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 199-216.
• 'Articulation, profit or loss and OCI in the IASB Conceptual Framework: different shades of clean (or dirty) surplus' which was published in 2018 in Accounting in Europe, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 167-192.

With Clemence Garcia of Gakushuin University, we wrote:

• 'Goodwill accounting standards in the UK, the USA, Japan, and France' published in 2018 in Accounting History, Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 314-337.

I co-authored the textbook International Financial Reporting and Analysis (6th, 7th, 8th and 9th editions) in 2014 and 2017 with David Alexander, Anne Britton, Ann Jorissen, and Martin Hoogendoorn, in 2020 joined by Colette Kirwan, and for the edition published in 2023 also joined by Petra Inwinkl and Giovanna Michelon.

International links

My dissertation was about the influence of globalisation on the relation between accounting disclosure and the cost of capital in Japanese firms. For my PhD research I spent time at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, Japan (April 1998 - April 2000 funded by the Japanese Ministry of Education) and (February 2002 - February 2003, funded by the Canon Foundation). I visited Hitotsubash University again for a month in July 2007 and for three months in July-September 2009.

Furthermore, my collaboration with Yuko Asami of Gakushuin University in Tokyo has led me to visit Gakushuin University in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022.