Message from the EAA President

Dear Colleagues,

As the corona crisis is sweeping the planet, it would be irresponsible to proceed with the EAA Annual Congress 2020 in Bucharest as planned. Even if the current lockdowns and travel bans were lifted by late May, academic travel will not be back to normal in time. The EAA Management Committee has therefore decided to postpone EAA 2020 in Bucharest by one year – the new dates most probably are 26-28 May 2021. This decision is intended to protect all EAA delegates, as well as contribute to Europe-wide efforts to stop the virus from spreading. On behalf of the EAA, I would like to express our gratitude to the Bucharest local organising team for their efforts in organising the conference, and we look forward to the congress with them next year.(Kindly forward this email to your co-authors where applicable.)

Clearly, this decision raises questions – especially from those of you with papers accepted, registration fees paid, and travel arrangements made. On our Bucharest 2020 FAQ page, we attempt to answer your questions to the extent we currently can. Please check back frequently as the situation develops.

But there are also encouraging news and events to look forward to:

• Together with future local organizers, the EAA Congress Committee has been able to secure the followingtentative sequence of future EAA Annual Congresses: 2021 Bucharest, 2022 Bergen, 2023 Helsinki-Espoo, 2024 Rome and 2025 Prague. We may have to skip our beloved face-to-face networking, stimulating discussions, and vibrant social gatherings this year. But we are already working to bring back the EAA Annual Congress with a vengeance!
• To salvage some parts of this year’s Annual Congress, we are currently exploring ways of offering a limited “Virtual Conference”, hosted on our EAA Accounting Resources Centre (ARC), in late May. As a part of this, we will be launching a pan-European weekly Online Seminar Series. We will need some time before details will be clear, but stay tuned for news on these plans.

It is my firm belief that this crisis will fundamentally change business – and accounting along with it – forever. While it lasts, we’ll all be extremely busy with home-schooling our kids, “digitalizing” our teaching, and helping those in need. But all of us will be able to carve out some quiet time here and there to contemplate the opportunities that this crisis brings. Let us use it to make accounting, and accounting research, emerge with renewed focus, drive, and relevance from this grand challenge.

I wish you and your loved ones all the best – health first and foremost – in these challenging times. This, too, shall pass.

Sincerely,

Thorsten Sellhorn, EAA President