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Chris Searchfield

Chris_Searchfield

Formal Name: Chris Searchfield

Personal Title : Mr

Position: Academic Director - City Campus, Senior Lecturer

Organisational Unit: Department of Accounting and Finance

Qualifications: BBus UTS, BCom (Hons) Macquarie, MCom Macquarie, CPA

Telephone: (+61-2) 9850-8462

Fax: (+61-2) 9850-8497

Email: chris.searchfield@mq.edu.au

Location: E4A 238

Administration Roles

  • Oct 2004 – December 2006: Deputy and then Department Undergraduate Program Director (Joint) for Department of Accounting and Finance
  • 2007 and 2008: Elected Chair for Department of Accounting and Finance Meetings
  • 2008: Director of Undergraduate Studies for Division of Economic and Financial Studies
  • 2009: Director of Students for the Faculty of Business and Economics
  • 2010 onwards: Academic Director - Macquarie City Campus

Publications

Journal Publications

  • Searchfield, C.N. 2005 The learning organisation concept and its adaptation to teaching in an undergraduate accounting unit. The Asian Review of Accounting 12 (2): 74-92. I had worked on this paper through 2003-2004.

Conferences

  • Lewis, A., Fargher N. and Searchfield C. 2006. Is There Increased Strategic Reporting of Goodwill Impairment When Amortization Is No Longer Required? Evidence From the U.S. Implementation of SFAS 142. 2006 AAAA Annual Conference Proceedings, Academic Accounting Association Conference, Sydney, Australia, 17-19 September, 2006.

Research

Having commenced my career as an academic at Macquarie University after the culmination of a long career in other fields my first major goal was to complete a Bachelor of Commerce Honours (awarded in 2003). My dissertation was in the area of accounting education and explored the operationalisation of Daft’s Learning Organisation a modern management accounting perspective to tutorial teaching in a third year elective undergraduate management accounting unit in the Bachelor of Commerce - Accounting Program. This project was in response to a call evidenced in the literature to accounting educators to use more innovative teaching methods in order to provide accounting graduates with appropriate work place skills. Arising from the overall project I made two presentations and published a paper in a refereed journal:

  • 19 September 2003 – Macquarie University Division of Economic and     Financial Studies.
  • 24 October 2003 – Department of Accounting and Finance Second Semester 2003 Series.
  • Searchfield, C.N. 2005 The learning organisation concept and its adaptation to teaching in an undergraduate accounting unit. The Asian Review of Accounting 12 (2): 74-92. I had worked on this paper through 2003-2004.

Subsequent Research

Part of a paper review group undertaking blind reviews of papers for the 7th Asian Academic Accounting Association Conference (2006) held in Sydney. Also joint authorship of a paper which I presented at the above conference:
  • Lewis, A., Fargher, N., and Searchfield C.N. 2006 Is there increased strategic reporting of goodwill impairment when amortisation is no longer required? Evidence from the US implementation of SFAS 142
A further paper was developed from the above conference paper and submitted for publication to a refereed journal in 2007 but is still in progress in the light of matters raised in the initial review.

Work in Progress

  1. Member of a project which has received funding entitled “Termfinder” which is developing an online dictionary of terms for students studying in different disciplines. My involvement has focussed on the accounting area and the facilitation of a glossary from a leading publisher which is now been incorporated into the project. It is expected that a paper will be developed to examine student outcomes from the use of the Termfinder database.
  2. I have become involved in background issues and consultations using my professional experience relating to a series of papers written by Professor Anne Burns and Dr. Stephen Moore from the Department of Linguistics looking at the communication of information between professional accountants and their clients. I have recently met with Stephen Moore with a view to developing another paper in this area.
  3. For some time I have had in motion a project drawing on my previous senior administrative position within the Catholic Church to examine KPIs within Diocesan and Parish structures in Australia.
  • Two colleagues have expressed an interest (Dr. Kevin Baird and Assoc. Professor Herbert Schoch. I have already undertaken a partial literature review.

Conferences and Other Matters

2001, 2003 and 2004 attendance at the Australasian Conference on Information Systems (ACIS) the foremost local conference in this area. In 2003 the Eight Biennial Management Accounting Research Conference. Also regular attendance at CPA Australia Accounting Standard update sessions. Undertaking the University CPD Session Colloquium for Research Supervision. To date I have been an active attender at Department Research Seminar Presentations. During both 2006 and 2007 I was asked at very short notice to act as a co-examiner for dissertations of Honours candidates.

 

Teaching

Main Teaching Areas

My main teaching area lies within the subjects which fall within the scope of the Accounting Information Systems and Auditing Assurance Services Teaching Cluster in the Department:
  • ACCG250 – Accounting Systems Design and Development
    • Roles: Lecturer in Charge/ Lecturer/Tutor
  • ACCG251 – Accounting Information Systems
    • Roles: Tutor
  • ACCG340 – Auditing and Assurance Services
    • Roles: Lecturer/Tutor
  • ACCG355 – Information Systems for Management
    • Roles: Lecturer in Charge/ Lecturer/ Tutor

Other Teaching Areas

  • ACCG101 – Accounting 1B
    • Roles: Lecturer in Charge/Lecturer/Tutor
  • ACCG100 – Accounting 1A
    • Roles: Lecturer/Tutor
  • ACCG105 – Introductory Financial Accounting
    • Roles: Lecturer/Tutor
  • ARTS105 – Financial Management for the Creative Arts
    • Roles: Lecturer in Charge/Lecturer/Tutor
    • This subject is a core unit in the Bachelor of Creative Arts Program offered by Division of Society, Culture and Philosophy
  • ACCG200 – Fundamentals of Management Accounting
  • ACCG201 – Organisational Planning and Control
  • ACCG330 – Strategic Management Accounting

Subject Moderation

  • ACCG100 - SIBT
  • ACCG250 – BBA Singapore Program
  • ACCG355 – BBA Singapore Program

Postgraduate Level

  • MIST800 – Computer Applications in Business
  • ACCG822 – Information Systems in Business
  • ACCG856 – Auditing and Assurance Services

General Comments

My teaching has benefited from being able to draw on an extensive career background over many years in both Australia and the UK in Accounting, Auditing, Tax, Management and Administration working both in Industry, the Accounting Profession, Retailing and the Not for Profit Sector. The benefits for students in this regard are bringing a practical real life perspective to the subjects that I teach.

I have been involved in curriculum development particularly in respect of the subjects that I teach in my main teaching cluster area. My teaching practices have always been supportive of the development of generic skills needed by accounting graduates in the workplace together with the promotion of the Peer Assisted Learning Program (PAL). Through both my Department and now Divisional roles I have a heavy involvement in teaching issues.