The 2019 FBR China Accounting and Financial Innovation Forum Held Successfully in Zhuhai

The 2019 FBR China Accounting and Financial Innovation Forum was held successfully on October 17-19, 2019 in Zhuhai, China. The Forum was jointly organized by Frontiers of Business Research in China (FBR), Renmin Business School (RMBS) and Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University United International College (UIC). More than 150 academic scholars and graduate students attended the conference.

Forum Committees, Keynote Speakers and Session Chairs

In the opening ceremony, Prof. Cong Zhang, Vice President of UIC, warmly welcomed the conference participants. Prof. Zhang applauded the Forum in sharing the latest trends and exploring the future developments of accounting and finance in the digital economy, as well as providing an invaluable platform for knowledge exchange.

Prof. Cong Zhang 

Prof. Steven Shuye Wang, co-chair of the Forum and Consulting Editor of FBR, noted that the rapid development of financial technology and innovations has greatly changed the models of business operation and management practice and called for more related academic research. FBR is aiming to promote the newest and high quality research to scholars and practitioners worldwide.

Prof. Steven Shuye Wang 

Prof. Stella Cho, co-chair of the Forum and Dean of Division of Business and Management, UIC, pointed out the challenges brought by rapid advancements in digital technology to individuals and organizations. She called for more research interests and ideas in this area.

Prof. Stella Cho

Six distinguished international scholars and renowned industry experts gave keynote speeches on their research findings, insights and forecast in finance and accounting under digital economy.

Prof. James Ohlson, Chair Professor of Accounting from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, delivered a speech on sustainable accounting research. He assessed the pros and cons of current accounting research, and criticized that the Generally Accepted Research Principles are responsible for the dysfunction of academic profession.

Prof. James Ohlson

Mr. Patrick Law, President of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA), discussed the future of accounting profession in the digital economy. He looked forward to the opportunities and challenges of accounting profession with the advancement in technology, and introduced HKICPA’s practices in preparing its members for the digital era.

Mr. Patrick Law

Prof. Xuan Tian, JD Capital Professor of Finance from Tsinghua University, gave a speech on the frontiers on corporate finance research. He provided a synthetic and evaluative discussion of academic papers that examine the drivers and financing sources of corporate innovation.

Prof. Xuan Tian

Prof. Wilson Tong, Director of the AMTD FinTech Center at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, discussed the relation between social trust and firm innovation. Research findings suggest that trust enhances both innovation input in terms of R&D investment, and innovation output in terms of patent number and patent citations.

Prof. Wilson Tong

Mr. Lei Chen, VP and Chief Data Scientist of PPDai, a NYSE-listed FinTech company, introduced PPDai’s business model and advanced technology. He concluded that technology is able to improve both performance and efficiency in the process of consumer finance.

Mr. Lei Chen 

Prof. Xiuping Hua, Director of UNNCNFTZ Blockchain Laboratory at University of Nottingham Ningbo China, presented a comparative case study of five Blockchain-inspired business models, and analyzed each model’s distinctive logic for market differentiation.

Prof. Xiuping Hua 

34 papers in the areas of AI and Big Data in Accounting and Finance, FinTech, Innovation, Technology and Corporate Sustainability, Banking and Financial Markets, Merger and Acquisition, Corporate Investment were presented in 12 concurrent sessions. Three “Best Paper Awards” were issued to scholars from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and UIC.

Best Paper Awards 

In the afternoon of October 19^th, forum participants joined a field trip to Hengqin Industrial Development District and Gree Electric Appliances Inc.