Professor Stewart Smyth

Management School

Chair in Accounting

A head and shoulders photograph of Stewart Smyth.

S.J.Smyth@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 3478

C068, Sheffield University Management School

Full contact details

Professor Stewart Smyth
Management School
C068
Sheffield University Management School
Conduit Road
Sheffield
S10 1FL

Profile

Stewart Smyth joined the Accounting and Financial Management group in February 2022.

Stewart's research interests cover the policy and financing of public services focusing on public/social housing and the use of PPPs to deliver public infrastructure; the use of accounting information by trade unions and social movements; and related conceptions of public accountability.

Stewart has been teaching accounting and related subjects since the late 1990s, with a particular emphasis on financial reporting and auditing, in both the private and public sectors. In recent years, he has developed and delivered Research Methods and Philosophical Perspectives to Accounting and Financial Management students.

The nature of Stewart's research leads him to pursue a range of public and policy engagements including speaking at housing policy conferences and writing for different media outlets on accounting and finance issues.

Research interests

Stewart's research interests include:

Accountability in public services and NGO sectors
Implications of public finance and public policy decisions (especially PFI and PPP)
Funding, accountability and governance in social housing
The use of accounting information by trade unions and social movements
Methods and methodologies for critical accounting and decolonial studies

Publications

Journal articles

Smyth S, Uddin S & Lee B (2022) Subject, method and praxis – conducting critical studies in accounting research. Critical Perspectives on Accounting. View this article in WRRO
Sian S & Smyth S (2022) Supreme emergencies and public accountability: the case of procurement in the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 35(1), 146-157.
Scobie, M, Lee W & Smyth S (2021) Braiding together student and supervisor aspirations in a struggle to decolonize.. Organization, 28(5), 857-875. View this article in WRRO
Alawattage C, Arjaliès D-L, Barrett M, Bernard J, de Castro Casa Nova SP, Cho CH, Cooper C, Denedo M, D’Astros CD, Evans R , Ejiogu A et al (2021) Opening accounting: a Manifesto. Accounting Forum, 45(3), 227-246.
Shu X, Smyth S & Haslam J (2021) Post-decision project evaluation of UK public–private partnerships: insights from planning practice. Public Money and Management, 41(6), 477-486. View this article in WRRO
Smyth S, Cole I & Fields D (2020) From gatekeepers to gateway constructors: Credit rating agencies and the financialisation of housing associations. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 71, 102093. View this article in WRRO
Scobie M, Lee W & Smyth S (2020) Grounded accountability and Indigenous self-determination. Critical Perspectives On Accounting, Online first, ---. View this article in WRRO
Whitfield D & Smyth S (2019) Infrastructure investment – the emergent PPP equity market. Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, 90(2), 291-309. View this article in WRRO
Smyth SJ (2018) Embedding financialisation: A policy review of the English Affordable Homes Programme. Housing Studies. View this article in WRRO
Smyth SJ (2017) Debate: Interventions and contradictions— recent government social housing policy. Public Money and Management, 37(6), 432-433.
Smyth SJ & Whitfield D (2017) Maintaining market principles: Government auditors, PPP equity sales and hegemony. Accounting Forum, 41(1), 44-56. View this article in WRRO
Smyth SJ (2017) Public accountability: reforms and resistance in social housing. Public Management Review, 19(2), 212-231. View this article in WRRO
Smyth SJ & Catchpowle L (2016) Accounting and Social Movements: an exploration of critical accounting praxis. Accounting Forum, 40(3), 220-234. View this article in WRRO
Smyth S (2013) The privatization of council housing: Stock transfer and the struggle for accountable housing. Critical Social Policy, 33(1), 37-56.
Smyth S (2012) Contesting public accountability: A dialogical exploration of accountability and social housing. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 23(3), 230-243.
Smyth SJ (2011) Scientific revolutions, progress and accounting research. Irish Accounting Review, 18(2), 57-73.
Smyth SJ (2011) How the Ship of Fools was Ship-Wrecked - The Irish crisis and response. Journal of Finance and Management in Public Services, 10(1), 1-13.
Smyth S (2010) Debate: Debt and disaggregation in council housing finance. Public Money & Management, 30(5), 265-267.
Smyth SJ (2007) Public Accountability: a critical approach. Journal of Finance and Management in Public Services, 6(2), 27-45.
Shu X, Smyth S & Haslam J () Understanding absences and ambiguities of Post-decision Project Evaluation in the UK's PPPs: drawing from the sociology of ignorance. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal.

Chapters

Stafford A (2022) Financialization: the next stage in PPP development, A Research Agenda for Public–Private Partnerships and the Governance of Infrastructure (pp. 203-226). Edward Elgar Publishing

Reports

Smyth S (2020) 21st Century Housing for Northern Ireland
Smyth S (2017) Our Homes, Our Future: Protecting Public Housing
Smyth S (2013) Keeping Our Housing Public

Presentations

Smyth SJ & Whitfield D "Financializing Public-Private infrastructure projects: the emergence of equity sales". People, Place and Policy Conference 2017, Sheffield Hallam University.
Smyth SJ, Cole I & Fields D Gatekeepers or Gate-openers: Credit rating agencies and the financialisation of housing associations.
Smyth SJ & Whitfield D Maintaining market principles: Government auditors, PPP equity sales and hegemony. Telfer Management School, Ottawa.
Smyth SJ & Whitfield D PPP equity sales – extending financialization. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Accounting Conference, Stockholm Business School.
Smyth SJ Resisting neoliberal accountability: public housing and civil society campaigns. Schulich Business School, York University, Toronto.
Smyth SJ Critical Realism in accounting research: an illustration. Schulich Business School, York University, Toronto.
Smyth SJ Their accountability and ours: the history of an awful idea. Durham Business School.
Smyth SJ & Whitfield D Government auditors and hegemony: the case of PPP equity sales.

Research group: Centre for Research into Accounting and Finance in Context (CRAFiC)

Teaching interests

Stewart is an experienced lecturer with a teaching career of over twenty years. His main teaching subjects are International Financial Reporting, Financial Accounting and Public Sector Accounting and Finance.

In recent years, he has developed and delivered modules on Research Methods and Philosophical Perspectives for Accounting students. Stewart has taught at undergraduate, postgraduate and executive education levels.

Professional activities and memberships

Role	Organisation	Dates
President	British Accounting and Finance Association	May 2022 to April 2024
Vice-President	British Accounting and Finance Association	May 2020 to April 2022
Chairperson Interdisciplinary Perspectives	British Accounting and Finance Association	2013 to 2020

PhD Supervision

Stewart is interested in supervising PhD researchers in the following areas:

Financialisation of public infrastructure
Accounting for trade unions and social movements
Decolonising accounting practice and research
Social housing finance, policy and governance
Public services and NGO accountability