Overview

David Cooper joined the department of accounting and MIS at the University of Alberta in 1989, and became the first holder of the Certified General Accountants of Alberta Chair in Accounting in 1995. Cooper is Director of the School of Business PhD Program. He obtained a BSc (Econ, honours) from the London School of Economics and his PhD from the University of Manchester in 1979. Since 2003 he has been a visiting Fellow at Oxford University's Saïd Business School,  and in 2005 was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Turku, Finland.

Cooper has written or edited seven books and about 50 articles in academic and professional journals such as Accounting, Organizations and Society, Administrative Science Quarterly, Contemporary Accounting Research, Organisation Studies, and Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal. He is a joint editor of the international research journal, Critical Perspectives on Accounting and is a member of the editorial boards of seven other international research journals. He has taught senior managers in a variety of programmes in Canada, the US and Europe, and has consulted with public and private sector organisations on strategy, performance management and costing.

Research interests

David Cooper has studied budgeting and costing in several not for profit organisations in Britain (notably hospitals and public utilities).

Since moving to Canada, his research has examined the development and implementation of business planning and performance measurement systems in government organisations, and their impact on managerial practices.

He has also conducted extensive research on the management of large professional service firms (notably law and accounting), with special emphasis on processes of change, ethics, globalisation, and the regulation of professionals.

In his current research, he is examining the development and implementation of strategic performance measurement systems (most notably the BSC) in several multinational organisations.