Faculty of Economics and Commerce

Knowledge Transfer

Knowledge Transfer recognises the two-way flow and uptake of ideas between the University of Melbourne and the broader community. Every time the University’s staff and students work with government, business or the community to mutually share the benefits of research, teaching and learning, they are engaging in knowledge transfer. The Faculty is actively engaged through it's partnerships with business, government and community in addressing issues of local, national and global significance.

Below you will find our recent editions or our bi-annual Knowlege Transfer journal Insights and our quarterly KT flyer as well as recent examples of our Knowlege transfer activities. Contact us for more information

"We aim to develop close and mutually beneficial relationships with business, government, the not-for-profit sector and the professions, both nationally and internationally. These relationships underpin our position as a leading Economics and Commerce Faculty in the region and one of the best in the world."
Professor Margaret Abernethy, Dean, Faculty of Economics and Commerce

Publications

Recent examples of Knowledge Transfer in the Faculty of Economics and Commerce.

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Collaboration with KPMG and University of Queensland: KPMG Fraud Survey 2008

Results are now available from the latest biennial Fraud Survey, produced by KPMG Forensic, in collaboration with the University of Melbourne and the University of Queensland — using 2008 survey data collected from 420 of Australia and New Zealand’s largest public and private sector organisations.

Professor Colin Ferguson, Chair of Business Information Systems at the University of Melbourne, has been instrumental in conducting the biennial survey since 2004. This 2008 survey is the third he has been involved in running with KPMG. Professor Ferguson’s role in the Fraud Survey has been designing the methodology and directing a team of researchers on the data collection, analysis and interpretation. “The University of Melbourne’s collaboration with KPMG is a great example of how industry and the Faculty can work together to generate information of value to a broad range of organisations”.
The incidence of 222,000 frauds has more than doubled over the number reported two years ago, and the total value of fraud was $301 million, almost double the value in 2006. Consistent with previous surveys, the most common reason for fraud is poor internal controls and poor hiring controls. Gambling is the significantly biggest motivation for fraud, however financial pressures are also cited a motivational factor on the rise — undoubtedly being exacerbated by the economic downturn.

“Our typical fraudster is a 38-year-old male; a non-management employee and he has held his current position for four years by the time of detection,” said Gary Gill, Head of KPMG Forensics Australian practice. "An effective, business-driven approach to fraud risk-management combines prevention, detection and response,” he said.

The most common form of identity fraud reported by respondents in 2008 was the unauthorised use of a credit card, or credit card number stolen from the cardholder. Respondents reported 154,602 cases of this kind of fraud with a total value of over $90 million.

Peter Morris, Director Forensic- KPMG, said that more organisations are providing a means for employees to report their suspicions of fraud, and that anonymous reporting systems are crucial to the detection of fraud. “An anonymous reporting system is one of the most cost effective fraud detection strategies that can be employed by organisations of all sizes. There are positive indicators in the 2008 survey that organisations are doing more to prevent, detect and respond to fraud risks, including increased use of data analytics together with fraud awareness training,” said Mr Morris.

Professor Ferguson, who recently established the Graduate Certificate in Business Forensics program in the Department of Accounting and Business Information Systems, The University of Melbourne, said that the forensics course enables students to gain specialist business forensic skills and knowledge.

“Business Forensics is a growing area that draws upon accounting, auditing and investigative skills to determine economic loss and/or business valuations often arising out of criminal behaviour,” he said. “The forensic specialist normally has a traditional commerce background, but is further trained in legal processes, business valuation methods, investigative techniques, and information technology forensic processes”.

Professor Ferguson added that since 2007, the Faculty of Economics and Commerce has offered an elective in business forensics and fraud in the undergraduate Bachelor of Commerce degree. “The elective is increasingly popular and students particularly value the opportunity to participate in moot courts and learn from the barristers, corporate regulators, and forensic accounting experts who teach in the subject,” he said.

An electronic copy of the KMPG Fraud Survey 2008 can be obtained from the KPMG website.

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Partnership with CPA Australia: Accounting services in regional and rural Australia

A study into factors affecting the long-term demand for, and supply of, professional accounting services in rural and regional Australia is being researched in partnership with CPA Australia by Professor Colin Ferguson, University of Melbourne; Professor Barry Cooper, Deakin University; Associate Professor Graeme Wines, Deakin University; and Associate Professor Beverley Jackling, RMIT University.

Regional Australian public accountants face major socio-economic obstacles and too little is known about the range of services provided by, and demanded from, accounting firms.

This research project aims to overcome these deficiencies by modelling the factors affecting the supply and demand of professional accounting and allied services as a basis for enhancing economic development in regional Australia.

Read full article on the CPA Australia website

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Good corporate governance helps minimise risk of fraud

The March 2007 edition of CFO magazine featured results from a published study by Professor Colin Ferguson of the Department of Accounting and Business Information Systems. Professor Ferguson's research showed a clear empirical link between corporate governance and fraud.

The research, which was based on survey data compiled by KPMG Forensic's 2006 Fraud Survey of Australia and New Zealand, helps companies to identify risks and minimise these through good governance, changing attitudes, and creating an atmosphere of transparency and ethical conduct within a company.

The research was an outcome of an extensive partnership network, primarily with KPMG but also with organisations including the University of Queensland, Victorian Police, CPA, Deloitte, KPMG, and University of Michigan. The network demonstrates an ability for a number of organisations with diverse interests to come together to work toward a common goal.

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VPS Capacity Building Initiative – Economic Design and Experimental Economics

The University of Melbourne and the Victorian Government recently signed a $1 million capacity building agreement in Economic Design and Experimental Economics.

The first stage in the agreement is the commissioning of a state of the art experimental laboratory. Further stages will involve the appointment of visiting scholars, delivery of training modules for the Victorian Public Service and partnership in the design of innovative policy instruments.

Substantial collaboration in the areas of environmental and transport policy are already occurring under this initiative. This Knowledge Transfer partnership will enhance research capacity at the University and policy development capacity in the Victorian Public Service.

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Melbourne Centre for Financial Studies

The Department of Finance is a key contributor to the Melbourne Centre for Financial Studies. The Centre delivers conferences/symposia, workshops, thought leadership pieces, academic internships, commissioned research, executive briefing series and consulting projects.

Successful events in the past year include the Future Fund Symposium; the Distinguished Lecture by Mervyn King (Governor of the Bank of England); Carbon Trading Energy Forum; the annual Melbourne Money and Finance Conference; Governance in Financial Institutions Symposium; Hedge Funds Forum; and hosted visitors who gave targeted lectures/speeches to various industry audiences.

Through Professor Kevin Davis and his team, the Department of Finance has strengthened its relationships with members of the finance and corporate industry in Melbourne and beyond, enhancing research and enriching teaching endeavours. Other departments in the Faculty have also benefited from the Centre’s activities.

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Meeting the management education needs of PETRONAS

Members of the Department of Management and Marketing play a key role in designing and delivering customised management education to staff at PETRONAS, Malaysia’s leading oil and gas multinational. The PETRONAS program was developed by some of the best teachers in the Department and is delivered through the School of Enterprise with support from the Faculty of Economics and Commerce.

The program allows for research based teaching to be implemented in real time and integrates PETRONAS’ Best Practices, resulting in a dynamic educational product. The program provides an opportunity for departmental staff to develop insight into the needs of large global companies and to understand better how business is done in an Asian company with staff in 35 countries.

By design, the project provides an active avenue for Knowledge Transfer to occur both ways, in particular in the areas of changing culture in companies, managing people and most importantly in knowledge management, one of the key business differentiators identified in successful companies.

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Students working with business in Management Practicum

The success of the Department of Management and Marketing Management Practicum has led to its expansion in 2007.

The Management Practicum offers high achieving students the opportunity to apply their university learning in a real business environment, engaging with a business challenge of genuine strategic importance to a host organisation.

In each instance, a student team works on a host-specified project to produce a professional-standard report analysing the business challenge and proposing courses of action for the organisation’s consideration.

Students have worked with major companies like BHP Billiton and the Coles Group, Telstra, Australia Post, Victorian government departments like the Departments of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development, Treasury and Finance as well as smaller manufacturers and financial services companies.

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Melbourne Institute of Applied Economics and Social Research

The Melbourne Institute is home of Australia’s major household longitudinal survey of Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA). The HILDA survey is led by the Deputy Director of the Melbourne Institute, Professor Mark Wooden, under a contract with the Commonwealth Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

HILDA provides a rich source of information that has been used by government partners for policy development in the areas of childcare, workforce participation, retirement and family functioning. HILDA data also benefits policy development in other government agencies such as the Department of Employment andWorkplace Relations, the Treasury, the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Productivity Commission.

The HILDA survey is a good example of a partnership that generates intellectual capital, impacts on the society as awhole and has relevance to a wide international and Australian audience.

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Insights

Insights, a new public interest journal produced by the Faculty of Economics and Commerce, publishes condensed and edited versions of public lectures held at conferences and seminars connected with the Faculty. These are valuable and accessible contributions to current debates and issues and they offer the latest thinking on business and economics.

Insights provides business and community leaders, alumni, students and researchers with easy access to contemporary material, keeping professionals up to date with new findings and key ideas relevant to their profession.

Insights is available online at http://insights.unimelb.edu.au. The first edition features articles on China’s fast growing economy, the IR debate and low paid workers and the value of accounting measures in predicting future profits.

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Career Mentor Program

The Faculty’s Career Mentoring Program matches postgraduates with high profile industry mentors. Participating students are linked with mentors based on theirs hared interests and area of specialty.

The objective of career mentoring is to support student’s transition out of university into the workforce and to involve members of industry in a mutually beneficial partnership.

Successful mentor-mentee relationships enable students to gain insights into specific industries and begin to develop personal and professional networks.

Industry participants in the mentoring programs report that they in turn also benefit from the experience. Jacqueline Novak, a mentor from IBM Business Consulting Services said “It forces you to think about what you do from a different angle, sometimes we get so involved in what we do that it’s great to have someone see it from a different angle and ask you some challenging questions.”

Mentors came to the ten-month program from large, medium and small organisations including Business Council of Australia, Office of the Premier of Victoria, Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development, Department of Treasury and Finance, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, JP MorganChase Bank Berhad, St George Bank, NAB, AAMI, Cadbury Schweppes, Protiviti, The Nous Group, Ernst and Young, IBM, Synergy Plus, Siemens, Pitcher Partners, and Cubit Media Research.

Further information is available from the Graduate Careers Centre Career Mentoring page.

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Contact us

If you would like further information about the Faculty of Economics and Commerce Knowledge Transfer activities or how to get involved, please do not hesitate to contact:

Brooke Young
Executive Director, Melbourne Graduate School of Management
Telephone: 8344 2166
Email: gsdir-ecom@ unimelb.edu.au

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