Dean's Message
The School of Accountancy (SoA) has built a reputation for its significant contributions to accounting research and high quality accounting education. With the onset of technological revolution in the accounting industry, SoA is prepared for the next phase of accounting education and research.
Today we count world-class scholars and business leaders as part of our team. Our faculty members have consistently gained international recognition for research productivity. Our research productivity in archival research is ranked 1st in Asia and 3rd in the world. We boast of a robust research environment with strong academic-driven research and practice research. At the same time, our faculty members consistently rank as the best teachers in the university. They also produce outstanding and internationally recognised pedagogical works. With this unique composition in our team, we have gained recognition for our contributions towards thought leadership, education and training in the accounting industry.
SoA offers a suite of distinctive programmes – the Bachelor of Accountancy (BAcc), the Master of Professional Accounting (MPA), the Master of Science in Accounting (MSA) (Data & Analytics) and the PhD in Accounting. Graduates from our BAcc programme enjoy high employment rates each year, and they command higher average starting salaries than their local peers. Our MPA graduates are also transitioning well into their respective professions, with many taking on key executive roles upon completion of their programme. More recently, we launched the MSA and PhD in Accounting programmes. The MSA is designed for finance and accounting professionals who are interested in developing expertise in applying data technology into their domain knowledge to solve business problems. On the other hand, the PhD in Accounting programme aims to groom the next generation of highly-skilled and innovative thought leaders in accounting, while generating synergy with SoA’s robust research environment.
The University’s collaborations with world-class institutions also enable our School to enjoy close interactions with top faculty members from these institutions. In addition, our School works closely with top Chinese schools in joint-postgraduate programmes, such as the Tsinghua-SMU Master of Science in CFO Leadership and the SMU-ZJU Doctor of Business
Administration (DBA) (Accounting and Finance) programme.
With Singapore poised to be the leading accounting hub for the Asia-Pacific region, I extend a warm welcome to you to partner with us, or to join us as part of our exciting and dynamic community at SoA.
Professor CHENG Qiang
Lee Kong Chian Chair Professor
Dean (School of Accountancy)
Dr Cheng Qiang conducts research on various financial reporting and disclosure issues, and has published in leading accounting and finance journals, including The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Accounting and Economics, and Journal of Financial Economics. Dr Cheng previously served as an editor of The Accounting Review and on the Research Committee of the American Accounting Association (AAA). He is a Council Member of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA) and a member of CPA Australia. He served as the president of the Chinese Accounting Professors’ Association of North America from 2009 to 2010. He had also previously taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of British Columbia, and the University of Washington. Dr Cheng was appointed as Dean in July 2015 and was awarded the Lee Kong Chian Chair Professorship in July 2016.