The recording is available here.

Within the new series of virtual conversations on “Diversity and Equity” (D&E), the EAA Virtual Activities Committee is delighted to host an event on “Religion & Accounting”, which will take place on Zoom, on January 24th, 2023, between 2-3:30 pm CET.

This event aims to explore the challenges of accountants in facing religious expectations from a socio-cultural perspective. The influence of religion as a social institution has been the subject of many debates in accounting. Specifically, in recent years, there is a growing interest in understanding religion and accounting, not only from a historical viewpoint but also from a contemporary perspective. Understanding the role of religion in the accounting profession is essential to increase awareness of accounting diversity driven by belief systems, inequality, and re-segregation.

We welcome you to join a conversation with Rania Kamla, Marwa Elnahass, and Vassili Joannides, accounting scholars with expertise in the reflection of religion in accounting research, to have an in-depth discussion on religion and accounting based on their own experience and research into accounting profession and academia.

Yasemin Zengin-Karaibrahimoglu will facilitate the conversation session and there will be an opportunity for Q&A.

The session will be a rolling event and will progress as follows:

Conversation with Rania Kamla – The role of religion in the working lives of accounting professionals: the case of Muslim women accountants.

Conversation with Marwa Elnahass – The role of religion in mitigating fraudulent accounting practices.

Conversation with Vassili Joannides – The religious foundations of accounting principles/technologies.

If you have any questions you would like to be discussed, please submit your questions using the registration link.

We thank the speakers and the EAA for their support, and we look forward to welcoming you to this Conversation.

EAA Virtual Activities Committee

Suggested reading

• Kamla, R. (2019). Religion-based resistance strategies, politics of authenticity and professional women accountants. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 59, 52-69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2018.05.003
• Abdelsalam O, Elnahass M, Batten JA, Mollah S. New insights into bank asset securitization: The impact of religiosity. Journal of Financial Stability 2021, 54, 100854. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfs.2021.100854
• de Lautour, J. (2017). Accounting, capitalism, and the revealed religions. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32333-6

Speakers:

	Rania Kamla is a Professor of Accounting at Heriot-Watt University. Rania’s research is interdisciplinary and is specifically influenced by critical and postcolonial theorising, concentrating on the areas of critical accounting, social accounting, international accounting and financial reporting (especially with a focus upon the Arab world), accounting and culture (with particular reference to Islam) and the accounting profession in the context of globalisation (with a particular interest in gender, diversity, and language). Methodologically, Rania’s accounting training embedded in wider social theories allows multiple skills in different levels and approaches to analysis. These include attention to the multi-dimensional and intersecting aspects of social identity in the construction of narratives.
	Marwa Elnahass is a Reader in Accounting & Finance at Newcastle University Business School and the School’s Ethics Convenor. Marwa’s research interest is climate change, green finance, and banking. Marwa has been featured in the Top 200 List of the Most Influential Women in Islamic Business and Finance for 2021/22 & 2022/23 by Cambridge International Financial Advisory and received the NUBS Schools Award (2022) for Outstanding Researcher of Year (Established Career). Marwa’s work on green finance and climate change has been utilised by policymakers (e.g., the British High Commission, the central bank of Qatar and the Ministry of Higher Education of Egypt, and others).
	Vassili Joannides is an Associate Professor at Grenoble École de Management, where he is the Academic Director of the France DBA programme. Vassili has been 2009 an adjunct professor at Queensland University of Technology in Australia. Vassili’s research is interdisciplinary; grounded in political philosophy and theology, it addresses accountability as day-to-day practice in a variety of settings. Vassili has a particular interest in non-profits, religious organisations, the public sector, workers’ cooperatives, and ethnicity. In all these contexts, he has particularly emphasised the development of rhetoric, critical stances, and persuasiveness issues. He is a board member of various journals and the director of the Palgrave Studies in Accounting & Finance Practices.
Moderator:	Yasemin Zengin Karaibrahimoğlu is an Associate Professor of Accountancy at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. Yasemin’s research area of interest is the effects of multi-country regulatory changes in auditing, financial reporting, and corporate governance on organizational outcomes. Yasemin is a member of the Diversity and Equity group of the Virtual Activities Committee of the EAA.