Deborah Agostino is Associate Professor in Accounting, Finance and Control at Politecnico di Milano and Adjunct Professor at City University of Hong Kong. Her research explores how digital innovation and AI reshape public sector accounting, and accountability, with empirical evidence from public services and government-funded cultural institutions. She is Board Member of the International Research Society of Public Management (IRSPM), Board Member of the Public Service Accounting and Accountability Group (PSAAG) and Member of the Scientific Committee of the EIASM Public Sector Conference. She serves on the Editorial Board of Financial Accountability & Management, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Public Money & Management and European Management Journal.
Dr Anatoli Bourmistrov is Professor in Business Administration at Nord University Business School, Bodø, Norway. His research publications cover a wide range of topics including but not limited to public sector performance management reforms, management innovations in the public and private sectors, relationships between information and managerial attention, issues of long-term planning via use of scenarios. From 01.01.26 he will lead a four-year research project funded by the Norwegian Research Council “Transformative Capabilities of the Accounting Profession Facing Artificial Intelligence: Norwegian small and medium-sized practices (TRANSACT AI)”.
Tjerk Budding is full professor in Public Sector Accounting at VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He published in leading accounting and public administration journals such as Management Accounting Research, Financial Accountability & Management and International Public Management Journal. Together with Jan van Helden he was guest editor of two themes of Public Money & Management (2022 and 2026) about politicians’ use of accounting information. He is a member of the scientific committee of the EIASM Public Sector Reform conferences, and in the period 2015-2025 also a member of the CIGAR Executive Board.
Thomas Müller-Marqués Berger became Chair of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board in 2026, having been the IPSASB CAG Chair from 2016 until 2023 and a Board Member from 2009 until 2014.
Thomas started his career with EY in Germany in 1993. He was a Partner and the EY Global Leader for International Public Sector Accounting until 2023. In that role, he was supporting governments, international organizations and EY teams in implementing IPSAS globally.
After his retirement from EY, Thomas mainly worked for the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund as an IPSAS expert. He is a member of several advisory boards, among those the World Bank PULSAR Technical Advisory Board and the European UnionAdvisory Group of Experts on Accounting Standards.
In the accountancy profession, Thomas was the Chair of the Public Sector Working Group at Accountancy Europe starting in 2011 until 2020, where he has been a member since 2002. In Germany, Thomas is a member of the working group for public corporations and public administration since 2002, next to several other related working groups.
Arman Vatyan, PEMPAL Program Leader, PULSAR Program Manager, the World Bank.
A UK and Canadian Chartered Accountant, with over 25 years of experience in more than 30 countries across multiple regions, including Europe and Central Asia, Latin America, East Asia-Pacific, and Middle East and North Africa. Expertise focuses on coordinating critical reform initiatives in public financial management, corporate accounting, sustainability and financial reporting, public and private internal and external audit, financial management information systems, State Owned Enterprise governance, and public internal control. He is the Public Sector Accounting and Reporting (PULSAR) Program Manager (12 countries), and Public Expenditure Management Peer Assisted Learning (PEMPAL) Program Lead (22 countries). He has worked on more than 400 World Bank operations.
Prior to joining the World Bank, worked in the private sector and the government, including four years with a Big Four firm in auditing and providing SOE governance, financial reporting, strategic planning, management information systems, restructuring, and privatization advice to governments and large public interest entities. He has more than 25 years of teaching experience as a trainer and visiting lecturer, has spoken at around 100 international and regional conferences, and has authored or significantly contributed to more than 30 publications.
Sandra Cohen is a Professor of Accounting in the Department of Business Administration at Athens University of Economics and Business. Her research interests lie in the fields of “Public Sector Accounting”, “Sustainability Reporting” and “Management accounting”. Her research has been published in several ranked journals and presented at several international conferences. She is currently the Chair of the European Accounting Association Public Sector Accounting Committee (EAA PSAC) and the Vice-Chair of the Comparative International Governmental Accounting Research (CIGAR) Network Board.
