Head of Department at the Department of Accounting at Copenhagen Business School

Do you wish to contribute to CBS’ transformative mission that blends business with societal impact? Are you familiar with the field of accounting and would like to steer our department to new heights? Are you ready to foster an inclusive academic community and support a positive and balanced work environment?

Copenhagen Business School invites applications for the position of Head of the Department of Accounting, commencing on 15 August 2024. We seek a strategic, innovative, and collaborative leader who can further develop the department along with CBS’ strategy of transforming society with business.

The Department of Accounting is the largest of its kind in Denmark and one of the largest in Europe, comprising 58 faculty members of various national backgrounds, including 15 PhD students and 8 administrative staff members. Additionally, the department benefits from the knowledge of more than 100 employed teaching assistants and part-time lecturers. Both Danish and English are equally accepted as working languages.

The Department of Accounting is committed to high-quality research publishing in international and national journals, research-based teaching across a large portfolio of Danish and English-taught courses and fostering a positive and balanced work environment. We aim for dissemination across a range of platforms and impactful contributions within the global society, aligning with CBS’ strategy of transforming society with business.

The department’s research and teaching falls within four subject areas:

• Financial accounting
• Management accounting and control
• Auditing
• Corporate governance

Our strategic focus areas are:
Strengthening the department’s research culture, further developing a collaborative environment leading to publications across a range of international and national journals in accounting-related subjects, including sustainability and ESG reporting.
Assuring the right combination of faculty members to meet the demand for accounting courses and programmes across CBS.
Improving the well-being of colleagues, the attraction of new colleagues, the retention of existing colleagues, the placement of doctoral students, as well as ensuring equal opportunities among all staff members.
Maintaining and extending the collaboration with external partners outside academia on business, public sector, and societal-relevant projects and PhD/post-doc funding.

Faculty members are committed to delivering high quality research drawing on a variety of theories, methods, and empirical settings to foster a comprehensive understanding of accounting, auditing, and governance. The department further delivers research-based teaching across a palette of courses and programs at CBS using qualified teaching didactics and pedagogy to support effective teaching and learning environments. The CBS program portfolio is currently undergoing a strategic revision and a government reform of Danish higher education programs has also been decided. Both initiatives will have an impact on the department’s course offerings and its contribution to the CBS programs in the future. The Head of Department will be expected to contribute to the development of CBS’ future programs, drawing on the faculty members’ capabilities.

In recent years, the department has increased its presence in top journals. A focus area for the Head of Department in the years to come, will be to strengthen research collaboration across the department, develop an ambitious research strategy and further strengthen the department’s academic profile. Such a strategy should be linked to a funding strategy, accentuating the specific areas in which the department sees a potential for attracting external funding, and an impact strategy focusing on initiating and engaging in collaboration with industry partners and stakeholders outside academia and thereby generating impact. Furthermore, the department has recently initiated a focused initiative aimed at strengthening its PhD program.

The position

As the Head of Department, you will not only lead the department but also play a pivotal role in CBS' strategic leadership. Heads of departments at CBS participate actively in shaping CBS’ strategic direction and cen-tral institutional procedures and policies through regular engagement with Senior Management.

For a detailed description of the job and the desired competences, please refer to the Job and competence description .

The CBS strategy can be found here , and the department strategy can be found here .

At Copenhagen Business School, we believe that diversity strengthens our community. And so, we welcome applications from all qualified candidates who share our desire for excellence and our commitment to making positive change through business.

Recruitment process

An appointment committee chaired by the Deputy President will review and interview a selection of qualified candidates.

One of CBS’ strategic goals is the promotion of diversity, which is why efforts have been made to facilitate a process that seeks to reduce potential biases in the recruitment process. We therefore encourage applicants not to include photos or more personal information than absolutely necessary in the application.

For the same reason, applicants invited for interviews will not undergo an interview with the entire appointment committee in the first round but will be interviewed by each individual committee member through short online interviews.

Job interviews are expected to take place on 2nd and 3rd May 2024 (round 1 – online) and 23 May 2024 (round 2 – physical). Tests will be administered between rounds 1 and 2, and interviews will be conducted in English.

Terms of employment

The position as Head of Department is a time-limited position depending on prior experience (typically 6 years). After expiration, negotiation of extension of the employment will be possible. Salary, duration and terms of appointment are open for negotiation.

The position is filled in accordance with the Danish collective agreement for academics as agreed between the Danish Ministry of Finance and AC (The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations), and in accordance with the Danish University Act and CBS' bylaws.

Application and contact information

Application deadline: 14 April 2024. CBS wishes to fill the position by 15 August 2024 or as soon as possible.

Please upload your application via the electronic recruitment system by following the link below. Please include a CV and any relevant documentation of research and education related qualifications as well as experience and results pertaining to academic leadership. The application should include your vision for the development of the department as well as your reflections regarding the execution of the leadership task.

For more information, please contact Inger Askehave, Deputy President, at [email protected] or +45 41 85 22 88.

Closing date: 14 April 2024.

Apply online

CBS is a globally recognised business school with deep roots in the Nordic socio-economic model. Our faculty has a broad focus on societal challenges, and we have earned a reputation for high-quality disciplinary and interdisciplinary research and education. 

We are located at Frederiksberg and have approximately 20,000 full and part-time students, 800 full-time faculty members, 200 PhD students and 700 administrative staff, and a full portfolio of bachelor, master, MBA/EMBA, PhD and executive programmes taught in English and Danish. 

Our global profile carries the obligation to address critical challenges in our research and to develop the transformational capabilities of students, graduates and business leaders via our educational activities and opportunities for lifelong learning. Complex challenges call for joint action, and therefore our strategy focuses on strengthening current and starting new partnerships with other sciences, the business community, authorities and civil society.

CBS is working continuously on becoming a diverse and inclusive organisation, and we encourage all regardless of gender identity and expression, ethnicity, religious beliefs, LGBT+ status, cultural background etc. to apply.
Reach out to us if you need assistance in the application or recruitment process, if there is something we should know, or if as a person with disability you wish to make use of your preferential access.