Key details
Dr Lesley Catchpowle
Senior Lecturer in Social and Critical Accounting and Organisational Studies
Lesley Catchpowle is Senior Lecturer in Critical and Social Research in Accounting and Organisations at the University of Greenwich. She holds a MSc in Industrial Relations from the London School of Economics and a PhD from the University of Greenwich. She is an accomplished lecturer with 25 years' experience teaching students from the UK and overseas. Her work experience includes local government, and education and consultancy for the Woolwich Building Society, Sainsburys, the NHS and the Department of Employment. She has lived, taught and researched in South Africa, Hong Kong and China.
Lesley is a critical theorist with a prime interest in the activities of state and their relationship to global capital. Areas of research include the state's relationship with capitalism and accountancy, the transformation of the public sector, privatisation, South Africa and policies of globalisation and neo-liberalism. Her most recent publications were in the areas of social accounting, capitalist states and accounting, and Auditing in Iraq.
In 2005 her paper on student fees was used by the Cubie Commission in evidence to the Scottish Parliament, and in 2009 she was the winner of the Emerald Management Reviews Citation of Excellence Award.
Lesley has completed a research project for the Work Foundation on Offshoring and is a founder member of the Centre for Governance, Risk & Accountability (GRA) at the University of Greenwich. She co-authored the Business School's 2008 RAE submission and was the Director of its PhD Doctoral programme for three years. She has supervised the completion of 8 PhDs and examined 20 PhDs, of which six were chaired. She regularly reviews articles for CPA (Critical Perspectives on Accounting) Journal, and is on the editorial board of the Association for Accountancy and Business Affairs.
Responsibilities within the university
- Research co-ordinator for the Department of Accounting & Finance.
- Founder member and co-ordinator of the Centre for Governance, Risk & Accountability (GRA)
- Co-ordinator of the Accounting and Finance PhD doctoral programme.
Awards
Winner of the Emerald Management Reviews Citation of Excellence Award (2009)
Recognition
Member of the Scientific Committee for the first Mediterranean Critical Studies on Accounting and Finance (MCSAF), Tunisa, July 2009.
Reviewer for Critical Perspectives in Accounting (CPA) Journal and Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal
Member of editorial board for Association for Accountancy & Business Affairs Journal (AABA).
Member of the editorial board for Critical Perspectives in Accounting (CPA)
Research / Scholarly interests
Lesley Catchpowle's research has a clear critical theoretical perspective with a public interest agenda. Her most well-known work has clustered around the following themes:
- a theoretical exploration of relations between governments, capital and accountancy
- social accounting
- South African privatisation
- an examination of the theory of the State, which has helped to facilitate a better understanding of privatisation and the changing world economy.
In 2005, a paper on student fees (Cooper, Smith & Catchpowle – A discussion of the political potential of social accounting in Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 16(7) pp. 951–74) was used by the Cubie Commission giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament.
Her 2009 paper on Auditing in Iraq (Catchpowle & Cooper, US Imperialism in Action: An audit-based appraisal of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq in Critical Perspectives in Accounting, 20, pp.716–54) was the winner of the Emerald Management Reviews Citation of Excellence Award.
Lesley's current research interests include social accounting and the 2008 global crisis. The following papers are currently under review with the CPA: Accounting and social movements; The state's response to the financial crisis: Myths of the free market liberalism; Accounting and the second enclosure movement: Debates concerning intellectual property rights; and Accounting knowledge.
Key funded projects
Research project for The Work Foundation (£20,000). Off-shoring and implications for organisational capability (2004) . Research team: Hall, D; Catchpowle, L; Cronin B
Internal bid – Research and Enterprise Funding : Corporate Accountability Group, £46,000 (Aug, 2009/10); £46,000 (Oct 2010/11); £37,826 (Oct 2011/12); £35,000 Oct 2012/13)
Recent publications
Article
Catchpowle, Lesley and , Smyth, Stewart (2016), Accounting and social movements: An exploration of critical accounting praxis. Elsevier Ltd. In: , , , . Elsevier Ltd, Accounting Forum, 40 . pp. 220-234 ISSN: 0155-9982 (Print), 1467-6303 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.accfor.2016.05.001).