Professor Ian Fraser

Emeritus Professor

Accounting & Finance University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA

Professor Ian Fraser

Contact details

About me

I joined the university as a Professor of Accounting in 2004. I was the Head of the Accounting and Finance Division, Stirling Management School, from 2011 to 2016. I retired from primary academic activities in July 2020 and I am now a Professor of Accounting Emeritus. I have a professional accounting background. After graduating in Modern History and Political Economy at the University of Glasgow, I qualified as a Chartered Accountant (CA, 1978) with Thomson McLintock and Co (one of the predecessor firms of KPMG) with whom I gained post-qualifying experience as an audit manager. I joined the University of Strathclyde as a lecturer in accounting in 1981. I moved to Glasgow Caledonian University in 1991 where I was, successively, senior lecturer, reader and executive director of the centre for risk and governance. I was appointed to a chair in accounting at Stirling in 2004. Throughout my career I have maintained close links with the profession and, in particular, with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS). My principal research interests are in the areas of auditing and corporate governance while I also have an interest in income and value theory, including the valuation of art and artworks. I am also interested in the implications of Christian faith and belief for how we think about accounting, finance and economics.

My principal research intereststhroughout my career have been in auditing, corporate governance and financial reporting. I have received funding from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) to carry out several major projects in audit and corporate governance.  My  research work has resulted in policy proposals for the significant reform of audit and assurance and of audit reports.  My overarching research objective throughout my career has been to produce quality work that is useful to the accounting profession and to society. My principal interests have included the audit of narrative disclosures, the role of auditing standards, the relevance of national culture to audit practice, business risk auditing, audit independence and professional ethics . I also have a research interest in the portrayal of accounting in literature including the works of Charles Dickens. I am currently (2021) involved in collaborative work with Dr Boram Lee, University of South Australia, on the valuation and pricing of contemporary artworks and with Dr Hee Jung Hong, Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport, University of Stirling, on the financial and other challenges faced by elite athletes transitioning out of sport.