The Finance and Financial Accounting Research Group has a pioneering role in finance research in Finland. Over the last three decades, members of the Finance Research Group have published hundreds of scientific articles in international refereed academic journals. The scientific publications of the Finance Research Group have constituted a vast majority of the international research output of the University of Vaasa. The long research tradition is also strongly reflected in the current research productivity of the Finance and Financial Accounting Research Group. In 2004, the group received international recognition by being ranked 10th among the European universities and business schools in terms of finance research productivity.
During the past few years, members of the group have published over 40 articles in international refereed journals such as the Journal of Empirical Finance, Journal of Financial Intermediation, Journal of Economics and Business, Journal of Behavioral Finance, Journal of Futures Markets, Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions & Money, Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Journal of Economics and Finance, the Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Advances in Financial Planning and Forecasting, European Journal of Operational Research, and Scandinavian Journal of Management. In addition, hundreds of scientific articles have been presented in leading academic conferences by organizations such as the Southern Finance Association, Eastern Finance Association, European Finance Association, European Financial Management Association, European Economic Association, and the American Accounting Association.
The research activities of the group are on diverse fields of financial economics and financial accounting. The traditional strengths of the Research Group cover areas from financial markets to financial statement analysis. More recent activities of the Research Group focus, for instance, on the interactions between macroeconomic factors and financial markets, corporate finance and governance, financial investments, derivatives instruments, foreign exchange markets and international finance, and the analysis of emerging financial markets.
The Finance and Financial Accounting Research Group currently consists of 18 members (6 professors and 12 research fellows) from the University of Vaasa, as well as a number of research partners from domestic and international universities and financial institutions. The Research Group has a highly international orientation with the current members and partners representing 10 different nationalities. During the past few years, the Research Group has collaborated, for instance, with colleagues from five different U.S. universities and economists from the European Central Bank. Members of the Research Group have also actively participated in research projects co-operated with financial institutions, industrial firms, the NASDAQ OMX Nordic Exchange and the Nordic Electricity Exchange Nordpool. The research activities are currently funded by the Academy of Finland and several domestic foundations such as the Foundation for Economic Education, the Emil Aaltonen Foundation, the Evald and Hilda Nissi Foundation, the OP-Pohjola Group Foundations, the Finnish Savings Banks Research Foundation, the Finnish Cultural Foundation, and the Finnish Chamber of Commerce.
