Dr Phyllis Alexander
- Associate Professor in Accounting and Tax
- DH201,
- Keywords:
- Accounting
- Finance
- Fiscal Policy
- Sustainability
- Taxation
Biography
Dr Phyllis Alexander is an Associate Professor in Accounting and Taxation within BU's Business School. Her education, research and professional interests are in financial and tax literacy, environmental reporting and innovative pedagogy in accountancy and sustainability. Her doctoral students are researching in financial distress, corporate governance, audit, non-financial disclosure and sustainability education.
Phyllis' teaching style is active, problem-based, and collaborative and her assessment strategies encourage the development of professional competencies, thus enhancing the student learning experience and facilitating early-career readiness. She takes an active role in programme and curriculum development at BU while also leading on extra-curricula programmes including international intensive study programmes and employability initiatives.
Her previous positions within AFE have included UG and PG Programme Leaders, Head of Education and Professional Practice and interim Head of Department... She currently holds the internal positions on REF Impact, TeachBU, Quality Assurance and Engagement Group and the Business School's Industry Advisory Board. Phyllis' external engagements include Vice-President of the Association des Formations Europeenes a la comptabilite et a l’audit (AFECA), Finance Director for the Tax Research Network (TRN), member of the TRN Education Committee, and member of the Funding Committee of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT). Further, Phyllis has been the external examiner for several programme validations, doctoral VIVAs and recently completed a four-year commitment as External Examiner for the accounting and finance modules offered at Middlesex University.
moreResearch
Phyllis' research into tax literacy and tax morale began with a a report commissioned by the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) and has since resulted in publications in practitioner and academic journals. Two current research collaborations are underway: one is analysing the data from a cross-country survey, focusing on personality traits and other determinants on tax morale; the second is undertaking cross-country research into university students’ financial management behaviour and anxiety.
Smart Teaching in Accounting and Meeting Place -online (STAMP-online), is the current AFECA project funded by ERASMUS+. Accountancy in the digital era necessitates innovative and transformative education, research and practice. Research recognises the risks to the accounting profession, and suggestions are that technological knowledge be integrated in the curricula and adapted to changing needs. Therefore, the aim of the current project is to create an international online environment in the digital era to re-engineer/ replace the knowledge as well as key competencies and skills that will be acquired by students and teachers to be directly useful to the international financial-accounting labor market. In order to achieve the aim, two specific objectives are outlined: SO1. To redesign the relationship between scientific and practical environment by innovative activities in comprehensive research in the scope of useful application in the teaching- learning- practical environment. SO2. Restructure or replace knowledge and key competencies and skills that will be acquired by exploiting disruptive information technology in order to test and implement a custom platform that will help to support students and teachers and to promote and reward excellence in teaching and skills development. The project is in its final year, with a third Intensive Study Programme scheduled for July 2023 in Innsbruck.
A new international partnership has been formed (funded by the British Council) with a 2023 project in which a multi-media SDG13-Climate Action module will be developed to support a cross-university Community of Practice and capacity building in Education for Sustainable Development. The aim of the project is to help Higher Education (HE) providers and learners to deepen their knowledge of the climate and ecological crisis and enhance their awareness of opportunities for actions they could take for protecting and sustaining our planet. The module will also offer ideas on pedagogic practice in embedding SDG-13 in class, with examples of learning and assessment materials from different subject disciplines. The project commits to ensuring outputs targeting the aim of the Season by bringing together a team of specialists with specific subject focus (transportation, taxation, business processes and education quality assurance), long-term pedagogic experience, and commitment to effective edtech integration. This ensures that the final outputs would account for the interplay of different types of knowledge as captured by the TPACK (Technology-Pedagogy-Content Knowledge) framework, as well as the complexity and specificity of individual learning and delivery contexts. The final products are transferable to different disciplinary contexts, thus allowing the work to be used as a blueprint for embedding the rest of the 17 SDGs in education practice, as well as developed into HE staff development and/or teacher’s training programmes... The phased dissemination of the project outputs in an online mode will enable the growth of the community of educators and students/learners interested in using and contributing to the module while ensuring minimum carbon-footprints in collaboration.
morePhyllis has been affiliated with the Association des Formations Européennes a la Comptabilité et a l’Audit (AFECA) since 2012 - a network of European academics that facilitate teaching and research collaborations and exchanges. The consortium has had three successful ERASMUS+ projects: (1) International Learning Platform in Accountancy (ILPA), completed in 2018; shortlisted for Best Project and held up as an exemplar on the EU website. (2) Designing Innovative Pedagogy for Complex Accountancy Topics (DIPCAT), led by Phyllis and completed in 2021 with excellent feedback and impact; (3) Smart Teaching in Accounting and Meeting Place -online (STAMP-online), due to complete in December 2023 with the third and final student mobility event in July.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person's work contributes towards the following SDGs:
Quality education
"Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all"
Sustainable cities and communities
"Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable"
Peace, justice and strong institutions
"Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels"
