The ICAS Research Panel

Guy became Chair of the Research Panel in July 2017 and is a member of the Policy Leadership Board.

Guy is an Honorary Professor at the University of Edinburgh and is the former Global Head of Governance & Stewardship at Standard Life Investments. He retired from Standard Life in 2016, after 30 years’ service. He has played a leading role in developing and implementing best practice in corporate governance and stewardship and was the recipient of ICSA’s Outstanding Achievement Award for 2015. He was Co-Chair of several bodies including the Global Auditor Investor Dialogue, the GC100 and Investor Group and the Conference Board's European Corporate Governance Council: he also served as a Senior Advisor to the Conference Board. For many years, he was a member of the influential ABI Investment Committee, and a member of the Standing Advisory Group of the PCAOB, the US audit regulator.

Guy is the Vice Chair of the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI), and  an Independent Non-Executive of Mazars LLP.

Marie Gardner is Head of Research at ICAS. Originally from the South of France, Marie studied for a Master of Science in International Business jointly awarded by the CERAM (renamed as SKEMA) Business School in France and the University of Stirling. She trained as a chartered accountant with PwC mainly in financial services audit, and qualified as a member in 2003.

In February 2018, Marie joined ICAS to work in the ICAS Policy Leadership Division. Marie is responsible for the Research Centre at ICAS and is also a member of the team providing technical advice to members.

After graduating from the University of St Andrews with a degree in philosophy, Andrew joined Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co (now KPMG) in London. After a spell in general practice, he joined the firm’s technical department and subsequently the Accounting Standards Board on the formation of the FRC in 1990.

While with the ASB/FRC he worked on projects such as the debt/equity distinction (FRS 4); the Statement of Principles (Conceptual Framework); Provisions (IAS 37) and contributed to the development of research papers on leasing, pensions and tax. More recently he authored papers on the cash flow statement and the financial reporting of intangibles.

Following his retirement from the FRC, Andrew continues to advocate improvements in financial reporting.

Dimitris joined the University of Strathclyde as a Lecturer in 2013 and by the age of 35 he became Professor in Finance in 2018. Meanwhile, Dimitris has been a visiting lecturer at Cass Business School, ESCP Europe, and SKEMA Business School. Based on his research he is ranked in the top 10% of Authors on SSRN by all-time downloads and my research is published in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of Empirical Finance, and the European Journal of Finance among others.

Since 2012 his research and external engagements have generated approximately £250,000 and has led research grants funded by Innovate UK and BiP Solutions and by the French Chamber of Commerce. Also, Dimitris is an Associate Editor for the European Journal of Finance and have acted as Associate (Guest) Editor for the International Review of Financial Analysis and the Journal of Operational Research Society. Moreover, I have been invited to act as a Scientific Committee member for several conferences, I serve as research assessor for Carnegie Trust and as a regular ad-hoc reviewer for a number of scientific journals. Finally, I am actively engaging with industry in various roles such as consulting and R&D advisor.

James Baird is a former Managing Partner in Deloitte, having led the Scottish and NI practice from 2008 to 2010 and then leading the Deloitte Audit and Risk Advisory business in Switzerland from 2010 to 2015.  During his time with Deloitte, he was also Global Leader of Audit Analytics, a member of the UK Talent Executive and a member of the Auditor Panel of the Global Public Policy Committee, comprising the six largest global firms and reporting to the firms’ global CEOs on audit quality, regulatory developments and the value of audit to market stakeholders.  James was an Audit partner from 1998, a National Risk Partner for Deloitte in Audit as well as Corporate Finance, and a Senior Client Partner leading global audit and advisory engagements.  He is bilingual in French and English, and has extensive experience working internationally.

Having retired from Deloitte in August 2017, James is an Honorary Professor at the Adam Smith Business School at the University of Glasgow, where he is also a part-time doctoral researcher focusing on audit judgment.  He is working with ICAS as Moderator of the TPS Assurance and Business Systems examinations, and a member of the working group on Corporate Reporting.

Louise is a Professor of Accounting at Newcastle University Business School.  After training with KPMG to become a chartered accountant and member of ICAS, she held academic positions at Robert Gordon University, Dundee University, Abertay University and St Andrews University.  Louise is a visiting professor at the University of Bergamo and has been a visiting researcher at the University of Brescia for several years.

Louise's research interests include international financial reporting, professional accountancy education and NGO governance & accountability. She has received research funding for each of these areas which has led to the publication of her research, including the publication of two ICAS monographs.

Before being appointed to ICAS' Research Panel in 2011, Louise served for six years as a member of the Student Education Committee of ICAS. She is currently also a member of the Tayside Area Committee, which she has chaired since March 2012.

Hilary Eastman is Director of Investor Engagement at PwC, with responsibility for managing the firm's relationships with the investment community in the UK and globally. In her role, Hilary works with investors and analysts to get their views on a variety of corporate reporting and governance matters to help companies improve their reporting to the capital markets. She also seeks their views on matters that affect the accounting profession.

In addition, Hilary oversees the Corporate Reporting Users' Forum (CRUF) network around the world, facilitating dialogue between the investment community and standard setters and regulators on a range of corporate reporting topics.

Hilary previously worked at the IASB, where she led their investor engagement programme and the fair value measurement project, which resulted in IFRS 13 Fair Value Measurement. She has a background in company and asset valuation.

Hilary is a member of the CFA Society of the UK's Financial Reporting and Analysis Committee and the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group's (EFRAG) User Panel. She is a CFA Charterholder and a member of the CFA Institute.

George Fairweather was Executive Vice President and Global Chief Financial Officer of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. from 2015-18. Prior to this he was Group Finance Director of Alliance Boots GmbH (until acquired by Walgreens), Alliance Boots plc (until taken private) and Alliance UniChem Plc from 2002 until its merger with Boots.

George has extensive international management expertise, particularly in large scale financial integration, reporting & control, M&A, business planning, treasury, investor relations, digitalisation and sustainability.

He continues to work for Walgreens Boots Alliance on a part time basis, as a Senior Advisor, Business Development & Finance.

Prior to joining Alliance UniChem, George was Group Finance Director of Elementis plc (formerly Harrisons & Crossfield PLC) where he played a key role in transforming the company from a conglomerate into a specialty chemicals group. Before that, he was Group Finance Director of Dawson International plc. Both were FTSE 350 listed companies.

Earlier in his career George worked for Dixons Group plc in the UK and US, where he held a number of senior management positions, Procter & Gamble and KPMG Thompson McLintock where he qualified as a member of ICAS.  He is also a former Non-Executive Director and Audit Committee Chair of Mitchells & Butlers plc.

George is also a member of ICAS’s Technology Advisory Group, having previously served on the Business Law Committee.

Amanda Forsyth is a former investment manager whose experience in portfolio management runs the gamut from small, personal savings accounts to the largest of institutional investment funds. Thirty years’ experience in financial services began with accountancy training at KPMG, and she is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. During her professional career she also qualified with the Society of Investment Professionals (now CFA Institute) and she remains a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment.

During her career, a particular focus has been on ethical investment – she managed Standard Life's first UK Ethical funds from launch, and she retains a keen interest in the development of ESG as a driving principle for investment selection.

Her accountancy training was lately put to particular use in the management of portfolios of shares in companies on the Alternative Investment Market for inheritance tax planning purposes. This is an area where impartial, detailed research can be difficult to obtain, and the investor is more than usually reliant directly on disclosures by company management.

Having retired from full-time investment management in 2020, Amanda is now building a portfolio of board-level responsibilities.

Professor Stefano Zambon (PhD) is Chair of Accounting and Business Economics at the University of Ferrara, Italy. He has visiting appointments in universities in four continents. Stefano has more than 100 publications in books and international journals in the areas of management and reporting of intangibles, international financial reporting, and accounting theory and history.

He was the co-ordinator of the 2003 Study for the European Commission on the measurement of intangible assets and a member of the expert group that in 2006 prepared the EC Study ""RICARDIS"" on intangibles in research-based SMEs. He has been an invited key-note speaker at OECD, United Nations, European Parliament, European Commission, and French, Chinese and Japanese Governments' events on intangibles. In 2013 he was a member of the European Commission's Expert Group on ""IP Valuation"". Since April 2014 he has been the President of the of the official Expert Group on Intangibles set up by the French Government.

Stefano is the founding member of the global network ""World Intellectual Capital Initiative"" (WICI), and has been Deputy Chairman of the network since July 2013. He is also Chairman of WICI Europe and Secretary General of WICI Italy.