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Richard Barker

Professor of Accounting


  • richard.barker@sbs.ox.ac.uk

Saïd Business School
University of Oxford
Park End Street
Oxford
OX1 1HP

Profile

An expert in corporate reporting, Richard’s research and teaching interests span financial accounting and sustainability reporting, with a particular interest in standard-setting. He also has a broad interest in sustainable business, and he leads Oxford Saïd’s initiatives in this area.

 

Richard serves as Chair of the Expert Panel of Accounting for Sustainability (A4S, a Prince of Wales charity). Previous positions include membership of the Corporate Reporting Council (which sets UK accounting standards) and of the Financial Reporting Advisory Board (FRAB, which advises HM Treasury on government financial reporting). He served as Research Fellow at the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), Chair of the Audit Committee of Cambridge University Press, and Director of the Cambridge MBA and of the Oxford MBA. Richard has an undergraduate degree from Oxford and graduate degrees from Cambridge, and he qualified as a chartered management accountant while working for AstraZeneca. He has been a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University Graduate School of Business and at INSEAD. 

Richard has won teaching awards at both Oxford and Cambridge, including 'Most Acclaimed Lecturer in the Social Sciences', awarded by Oxford University Student Union.

Alongside his role at Saïd Business School, Richard is Tutor in Management at Christ Church.

Richard is currently on leave from Saïd Business School and is a member of the International Sustainability Standards Board

Research

Richard’s research focuses on corporate reporting, and on the design and standardisation of information by which corporations account for their performance. This includes, on the one hand, international accounting standards and investors’ use of financial statement information and, on the other hand, business performance metrics that are concerned with long-term business sustainability and accountability.

Useful links:

Publications

  • Richard Barker,
  • Colin Mayer
Accounting

It’s time to level up sustainability reporting(opens in new window)

  • Journal article
  • MIT Sloan Management Review
  • Richard Barker
Accounting

Accounting for intangible assets: suggested solutions(opens in new window)

  • Journal article
  • Accounting and Business Research
  • Richard Barker,
  • Andrew Lennard,
  • Stephen H Penman,
  • Alan Teixeira
Accounting

Are integrated reporting and IFRS competing frameworks?(opens in new window)

  • Chapter
  • The Routledge Handbook of Integrated Reporting
  • Richard Barker,
  • Alan Teixeira
Accounting

Moving the conceptual framework forward: accounting for uncertainty(opens in new window)

  • Journal article
  • Contemporary Accounting Research
  • Richard Barker,
  • S Penman
Accounting
See more publications

Engagement

Richard’s research work is characterised by a strong emphasis on policy relevance.

Throughout his academic career, Richard has maintained a close involvement with policy-making. As a member of the UK's Corporate Reporting Council, Richard continues to be directly engaged with policy-making in this area. For several years he combined his faculty position with a role on the technical staff of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in London where he was the technical staff member responsible for a major project on Reporting Financial Performance, working jointly with the ASB (UK) and FASB (US).

Working in collaboration with the ICAEW, the European Community and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), Richard has established workshops that bring together accounting standard-setters and academics, to address topical and challenging issues concerning international financial reporting standards.

Richard has been an invited conference speaker for a variety of organisations, including AACSB, ACCA, IASB, CFA Institute, Financial Times, Investor Relations Society, International Investor Relations Federation, Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, UBS and UKSIP.

He has acted as External Examiner for Manchester Business School and the LSE, and External Reviewer for London Business School.

Teaching

In 2013, Richard was named 'Most Acclaimed Lecturer in the Social Sciences' by Oxford University Student Union. 

He had previously achieved an unprecedented double in 2011, being awarded teaching prizes at the business schools of Oxford and Cambridge Universities in the same year. He is also a recipient of the Pilkington Teaching Prize at Cambridge, which is awarded ‘in recognition of excellence in teaching.’

Richard teaches Financial Reporting on the MBA, EMBA and MSc in Financial Economics programmes at Saїd Business School. He is the Programme Director for the Oxford Leading Sustainable Corporations Programme, part of the Oxford online portfolio. 

He is best known for his intuitive explanation of accounting, by which he applies underlying concepts to simplify and clarify the diversity and complexity of accounting practice. His approach is captured in his introductory textbook, Cambridge Short Introductions, Accounting, and the Accompanying Online Learning Tools.

Richard has considerable general experience in the design, development and management of business education programmes and has written about business education matters.

Barker has also taught extensively on executive education programmes, with clients including Ernst & Young, ICBC and McKinsey.

Oxford Answers

Thought-leadership and insights for business leaders written by our Faculty and Associate Fellows.

View articles by Richard.

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