Sepideh Parsa is an associate professor in Accounting and is currently the Programme Leader for MSc Financial Management and the PhD co-ordinator for Accounting and Finance Department. She joined the Business School as a PhD student when she was awarded a full scholarship. Sepideh completed her PhD in the field of social accounting. Sepideh’s main research interest is in corporate accountability and social reporting with a focus on ‘labour’ and ‘human rights’ related issues in both developing and developed countries.
Teaching
My specialist teaching subject is corporate accountability, covering a range of topics including corporate governance, social accounting and critical perspectives on accounting. During my lectures and workshops, I enjoy introducing students to topical issues by discussing recent scholarly articles as well as presenting them with the most recent cases of corporate misconducts. I encourage students to view and analyse each case by engaging in debates discussions and writing brief reports. My lectures and workshops provide me with an excellent opportunity to exchange views and ideas with my students who often come from different educational and culture backgrounds. I am also responsible for the dissertation module in MSc Financial Management Programme. As part of the preparation for their dissertations and given that our students come from a broad range of international and educational backgrounds, students are prepared to engage in critical thinking and hence critical writing. In addition to these, I am involved in supervising a number of PhD students in the Accounting and Finance Department and across the Business School. I have been the external examiner to numerous PhD candidates in British Universities over the past 10 years.
Research
The over-riding focus of my research is corporate social reporting and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the broader context of corporate accountability. My primary research interest has been in social reporting, mainly by major corporations in both developing and developed countries. One of my externally funded research projects has focused on CSR and CSR reporting in China. As the lead researcher, I have brought together scholars from China and UK to help us gain more insight into one of the world’s most fascinating and oldest cultures. This project aims to establish the nature of social reporting in an institutional environment that is characterised with a predominantly collectivist culture while being injected with capitalist values. Another externally funded project I have been the lead researcher to is in collaboration with German and British scholars, mainly from other scholarly disciplines. The project explores how the extent and nature of labour and human rights reporting by transnational corporations, domiciled in the two institutional settings and with entirely different corporate governance structures, tend to differ and yet share similarities.
Persian (mother tongue)
TEACHING
Corporate accountability
Ethics and sustainability
Research Methodology and Methods
PhD Supervision
RESEARCH INTEREST
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and CSR reporting in different institutional settings.
Labour and human rights reporting in developed and developing countries.
Reports and Blogs
Parsa, S. 
(2023), Labour rights reporting: Is a new era in sight?, MDXMind, March.
Parsa, S. , Roper, I. and Hettiarachchi, C. (2022) Transparency and disclosure in supply chains: modern slavery and worker voice. Project Report. Middlesex University, London & University of Essex, Colchester, UK. . [Monograph] (doi:10.57685/eprints.mdx.ac.uk.00034618)
Parsa, S. and Hettiarachchi, C. (2022), How seriously are companies taking their reporting under the Modern Slavery Act?, MDXMind, February.
SELECTED REFEREED PUBLICATIONS
Parsa S., Roper, I., Maurer, I. & Muller-Camen (2023), Soft Law Regulation and Labour Rights Reporting: a Deficit in Moral Legitimacy? Accounting Forum (ABS = 3), Forthcoming.
Parsa, Sepideh and Werner, Andrea (2023) Addressing challenges to labour rights reporting on global value chains: social governance mechanisms as a way forward. In: Measuring Sustainability and CSR: From Reporting to Decision-Making: 64 (Ethical Economy, 64). Kacanski, Slobodan , Kabderian Dreyer, Johannes and Sund, Kristian J. , eds. Ethical Economy . Springer, Cham, pp. 95-106. ISBN 978-3-031-26958-5, pbk-ISBN 978-3-031-26961-5, e-ISBN 978-3-031-26959-2. [Book Chapter] (doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-26959-2)
Parsa, S., Narisa, D., Belal, A., Li, T. and Tang, G. (2021), Corporate social responsibility reporting in China: Political, social and corporate influences, Accounting and Business Research (ABS = 3), 51(1), pp.36-64.
Parsa, S. (2020), Corporate Governance and Human Resource Management, in Critical Issues in Human Resource Management,: Contemporary Perspectives.Prouska, Rea, Roper, Ian and Chatrakul Na Ayudhya, Uracha, eds. Macmillan International Higher Education | Red Globe Press,
Parsa A., Roper, I., Muller-Camen, and Szigetvari, E., (2018), Have labour practices and human rights disclosures enhanced corporate accountability? The case of the GRI framework, Accounting Forum (ABS = 3), 42(1), pp. 47-64
Parsa, S., Tang, G. and Dai, N. (2016), How do Chinese businesses view corporate social responsibility?, ICAEW Briefings (Research Monograph).
Ehnert, I., Parsa, S., Roper, I. Wagner, M. and Muller-Camen, M. (2016), Reporting on sustainability and HRM: a comparative study of sustainability reporting practices by the world’s largest companies”, International Journal of Human Resource Management (ABS = 3), 27(1), pp. 88-108.
Li, P., Parsa, S. Tang, G. and Xiao, J. (2012), Is there an Expectations Gap in the Roles of Independent Directors? An explorative Study of Listed Chinese Companies, British Journal of Management, Volume 23, Issue 2, pages 206–222 (ABS = 4),
DOCTORAL SUPERVISION
Completions
Wadhaah Mubarak: "The role of executive directors in Banking sector in Saudi Arabia: What are the expectations gap?" (completed in 2020)
Anjana Basnet: "Examining the Relationship between CSR Perception of Employees and Organisational Performance in the context of a developing nation" (completed in 2020)
Chandimma Hettiarachchi: "An assessment of the sustainability reporting practices of the FTSE 350 companies: The real situation versus reporting practices of the labour and human right issues in supply chains" (completed in 2019)
Roaa Badkook: "Social Reporting Practices – A Study of developing countries" (completed in 2017).
Sulaiman Ailyu: "The role of stakeholder engagement in the preparation of assurance statements" (completed in 2015).
Sofia Santos: "The Legitimacy of Portuguese banks and the Environment: Is the Portuguese banking sector facing a potential legitimacy loss due to its lack of concerns with the environment?" (completed in 2011).
Currently supervising
Natalia Kurkina: “Comparative analysis of external and internal stakeholders of the Premier UK football clubs with regards to CSR practices” (expected to complete in 2021).
Parsa, Sepideh and Werner, Andrea (2023) Addressing challenges to labour rights reporting on global value chains: social governance mechanisms as a way forward. In: Measuring Sustainability and CSR: From Reporting to Decision-Making: 64 (Ethical Economy, 64). Kacanski, Slobodan and Kabderian Dreyer, Johannes and Sund, Kristian J. , eds. Ethical Economy . Springer, Cham, pp. 95-106. ISBN 978-3-031-26958-5 (Accepted/In press)
Parsa, Sepideh and Roper, Ian and Hettiarachchi, Chandima (2022) Transparency and disclosure in supply chains: modern slavery and worker voice. Project Report. Middlesex University, London & University of Essex, Colchester, UK.
Parsa, Sepideh and Narisa Tianjin, Dai and Ataur, Belal and Teng, Li and Guliang, Tang (2021) Corporate social responsibility reporting in China: political, social and corporate influences. Accounting and Business Research , 51 (1). pp. 36-64. ISSN 0001-4788
Parsa, Sepideh (2019) Corporate governance and HRM. In: Critical issues in human resource management: contemporary perspectives. Prouska, Rea and Roper, Ian and Chatrakul Na Ayudhya, Uracha , eds. Macmillan International Higher Education, Red Globe Press, London, pp. 9-27. ISBN 9781137605412
Parsa, Sepideh and Roper, Ian and Muller-Camen, Michael and Szigetvari, Eva (2018) Have labour practices and human rights disclosures enhanced corporate accountability? The case of the GRI framework. Accounting Forum , 42 (1). pp. 47-64. ISSN 0155-9982
RESEARCH GRANTS AND AWARDS
£2,252, January 2020, Middlesex University Business School
“Transparency and Disclosure in Supply Chains: Modern Slavery and Worker Voice”
£10,000, September 2013, The British Academy
"Labour and Human Rights Reporting Practices: A comparative study of British and German companies". (Principal Investigator)
£5,000, November 2011, Vienna University of Economics and Business
"Sustainability Human Resource Management" (in collaboration with Michael Muller-Carmen and Ian Roper).
£7,445, July 2011, TheBritish Academy
"Social Audit of Employment Relations Practices of the World's Largest Companies". (Principal Investigator)
£9,865, January 2011, ICAEW
"Corporate Social Reporting and Corporate Social Disclosure by Chinese Companies". (Principal Investigator)
I am a member of the Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research (CSEAR) and the British Accounting and Finance Association (BAFA).
