The Second Critical Studies in Accounting and Finance Conference, held on December 15-17, 2013, at the College of Business and Economics of the United Arab Emirates University, in Abu Dhabi, gathered tens of scholars from around the world. It discussed the limits of current paradigms in accounting and finance, from the point of view of practitioners, regulators and scholars. Among other topics, presenters discussed the future roles of sovereign funds, the impact of Bale III regulations, the capacity of innovation in accounting to tackle new social issues such as environmental problems.

I presented preliminary findings of research on cross-border investment in China, in particular how practitioners negotiate different valuation models, different social identities and the conflicting encounter of multifarious institutional and legal environments and traditions. These findings were also presented and discussed at the Seventh European Encounter for the Analysis of Political Societies held in Paris on February 7, 2014 (see previous post here), with a focus on the conflicts between foreign investment professionals and local sellers of small and medium enterprises, in particular the opposition between asset-based valuation methods and discounted cash flow valuation methods.