Funding

Self-funded

Project code

ACFM4751021

Department

Accounting and Financial Management

Start dates

October, February and April

Closing date

Applications accepted all year round

Applications are invited for a self-funded, 3 year full-time or 6 year part-time PhD project.

The PhD will be based in the Accounting and Financial Management subject group of Portsmouth Business School and will be supervised by Dr Ahmed Aboud and Professor Andrew Wood.

The work on this project will:

  • Address the global challenges of CbC Reporting 
  • Examine the Incentives  of  Voluntary CbC reporting 
  • Provide empirical evidence on the economic benefits of CbC reporting 

CbC information is an influential tool and should give tax administrations a global perspective of the operations of MNE Groups. It also provides a key opportunity for tax authorities to conduct tax risk assessments and trigger a tax audit or corporate tax avoidance. Indeed, tax havens collectively cost governments between $500 billion and $600 billion a year in lost corporate tax revenue (IFM, 2019). CbC Reporting requires large multinational enterprises (“MNE”) to file a CbC Report that will provide a breakdown of the amount of revenue, profits, taxes, and other indicators of economic activities for each tax jurisdiction in which the MNE group does business. However, Country- CbC Reporting involves a huge effort and arguably significant costs on the part of MNE groups, to prepare the information on a globally consistent basis, in line with the regulatory requirement. Few studies have examined the implications and incentives of the introduction of CbC reporting and conflicting results are reported so far.

Currently, CbC reports are submitted privately to tax authorities and are not available to the public. Several initiatives have been launched by investors, civil society, and the public to request public country-by-country reporting. Public CbC reporting should provide a better understanding of firms’ geographical diversification strategy, their risk assessment, and lead to more tax transparency and enhanced accountability of management. In April 2016, the European Commission launched an initiative for MNCs to publish their CbC reports. However, European countries failed to agree to an approach for publishing CbC reports because this had the potential to reduce MNCs’ competitive advantage considerably in international business (European Parliament, 2016). The publication of CbC information could be commercially sensitive, leading to financial loss or affecting the competitive position of an MNC. Nevertheless, there is very limited evidence so far on those potential benefits of public CbC reporting.

Based on a quantitative approach, this project will address research themes relating to mandatory and voluntary CbC reporting such as the economic consequences of CbC reporting, MNC’s tradeoff between cost and benefits of CbC information.

References

Evers, M., Meier, I., & Spengel, C. (2016). Country-by-country reporting: Tension between transparency and tax planning. ZEW-Centre for European Economic Research Discussion Paper, (17-008).

Joshi, P. (2020). Does Private Country‐by‐Country Reporting Deter Tax Avoidance and Income Shifting? Evidence from BEPS Action Item 13. Journal of Accounting Research, 58(2), 333-381.

Murphy, R. (2016). Country-by-country reporting. Global tax fairness, 96, 96-112.

Overesch, M., & Wolff, H. Financial Transparency to the Rescue: Effects of Public Country‐by‐Country Reporting in the EU Banking Sector on Tax Avoidance. Contemporary Accounting Research.

Walton, S., & Killey, M. (2020). The Impact of Country-by-Country Reporting on Nonprofessional Investor Judgments. In Advances in Taxation. Emerald Publishing Limited.

Fees and funding

Visit the research subject area page for fees and funding information for this project.

Funding availability: Self-funded PhD students only. 

PhD full-time and part-time courses are eligible for the UK Government Doctoral Loan (UK and EU students only – eligibility criteria apply).

Bench fees

Some PhD projects may include additional fees – known as bench fees – for equipment and other consumables, and these will be added to your standard tuition fee. Speak to the supervisory team during your interview about any additional fees you may have to pay. Please note, bench fees are not eligible for discounts and are non-refundable.

Entry requirements

You'll need a good first degree from an internationally recognised university (minimum upper second class or equivalent, depending on your chosen course) or a Master’s degree in Accounting and related subjects. In exceptional cases, we may consider equivalent professional experience and/or Qualifications. English language proficiency at a minimum of IELTS band 6.5 with no component score below 6.0.

 

You are expected to:

  • Have a deep interest in corporate reporting research
  • Have a good knowledge of quantitative research methods. 
  • And most important, have a good preparation to start this challenging but interesting research journey!

 

How to apply

We’d encourage you to contact Dr Ahmed Aboud  (ahmed.aboud@port.ac.uk) to discuss your interest before you apply, quoting the project code.

 

When you are ready to apply, please follow the 'Apply now' link on the Accounting PhD subject area page and select the link for the relevant intake. Make sure you submit a personal statement, proof of your degrees and grades, details of two referees, proof of your English language proficiency and an up-to-date CV.  Our ‘How to Apply’ page offers further guidance on the PhD application process. 

Please also include a research proposal of 1,000 words outlining the main features of your proposed research design – including how it meets the stated objectives, the challenges this project may present, and how the work will build on or challenge existing research in the above field. 

When applying please quote project code: ACFM4751021.