Insights into benchmarking and syllabus

Session chair: Jenni Rose, National Teaching Fellow (2025) and Senior Lecturer in Accounting, University of Manchester.
Jenni is the Chair of the ICAEW Academia and Education Committee, where she plays a leading role in shaping the future of accounting education. She also served on the QAA subject benchmark statement committee for Accounting, contributing to national standards for the discipline. Her work focuses on employability, curriculum innovation, and bridging the gap between academia and professional practice.

Joan Ballantine BA, MSc, PhD, FCCA, accounting graduate and Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA)
After working in industry and gaining her professional qualification, Joan moved into academia: working at Warwick Business School (where she gained a PhD) and Queen’s University Belfast. She is currently a Professor of Accounting, Ulster University. She has experience of teaching a range of subjects, including strategic management accounting, at both undergraduate and Masters level. Joan is an active researcher and is passionate about accounting education and gender equality (including gender budgeting and gender in senior management). She has secured circa £600k in research funding as principal investigator and is currently leading on a work package for a £4.8m EPIC Futures NI Local Policy Innovation Partnership (funded by UKRI, ESRC, AHRC and Innovate UK) to support those considered economically inactive back into work. She has examined numerous doctorates, is widely published and is on the editorial board of several journals.

Anita Krishnan
A seasoned leader with 30+ years of combined corporate and academic experience, Anita seamlessly blends business expertise and educational leadership to drive transformational change in business education. Her unique positioning combines almost two decades of corporate experience across external and internal auditing, compliance, and strategic management, with over ten years of progressive senior academic leadership, from Director of Programmes to Deputy Head of School (Education)/Associate Dean (Education) at Southampton Business School. Anita's educational leadership extends nationally and internationally through roles including Co-Chair of QAA Subject Benchmark Statement for Accounting 2025 and membership on the AICPA-CGMA Lifelong Learning Committee. Her governance experience encompasses serving as BAFA Non-Executive Trustee, CIMA Exam Board Vice-Chair, and Chair of Southampton's External Examiners Committee. She actively serves as External Examiner for UK and international universities plus professional bodies, ensuring rigorous academic standards and assessment practices across diverse institutions and qualification frameworks. Anita’s research interest are in Corporate governance, firm performance and EDI.

Greg Stoner, Professor of Accounting, Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow
Greg is an enthusiastic advocate for the improvement of accounting education via quality research and scholarship as well as through his involvement in a range of national, international and community activities. Greg’s own research and scholarship is primarily in the fields of accounting education, the impact and utilisation of information technologies in accounting education, the history of accounting, and the development of the accounting profession. In addition, Greg is Joint-Editor of the leading research journal in the field, Accounting Education. Greg has been an active member of the British Accounting and Finance Association (BAFA) for many years, primarily through its Accounting Education Special Interest Group, of which he was Chair from 2018 to 2024, and Treasurer and Vice Chair before that. Greg recently (2025, for 2024) received two prestigious awards from BAFA, the BAFA Outstanding Contribution to Accounting Education Award (OCAEA) (for “substantial and direct contribution to UK accounting and finance education”) and a BAFA Life-time Achievement Award (LAA) (for "substantial and direct contribution to UK academic accounting and finance”) over the course of his career.

Judy Dimmock FCA, Head of Accreditation, ICAEW
Judy is a a qualified Chartered Accountant (FCA). She currently works for ICAEW in Learning and Professional Development, working with the education sector and specialising in accreditation.

Shaun Robertson, Director, Education and Qualifications, ICAEW
Shaun is the Director, Education and Qualifications at ICAEW, delivering a professional qualification around the world to over 30,000 students. This involves, syllabus evolution, advising tuition providers and writing and delivering regulated professional exams. Before taking on this role, Shaun taught toward professional qualifications for over twelve years, specialising in tax and business strategy, and was involved in the evolution and design of courses for students as we all went through the digital transformation. He qualified as an ICAEW Chartered Accountant with PwC in London, also he is a qualified Chartered Tax Adviser and initially studied at Edinburgh University.