In the context of globalization, organizations have undergone a process of change as a consequence of the economic, social and political changes that have brought about changes in the relationship between citizens in particular and society in general.

Organizations feel compelled to adopt new strategies and values ​​that lead to social responsibility and sustainable development, taking into account the objectives they intend to achieve, and their adaptation to existing conditions and resources and available skills.

The achievement of sustainable development requires the integration of the principles of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the management of any type of organization, whether public or private, as well as in the relations with the agents with whom they interact. Given the challenges of sustainability and social responsibility for organizations, accounting can play an important role by providing information on a triple bottom line – economic, social and environmental – for both internal management and external agents.

Goals

• Analyze the influence of Social Responsibility practices on the competitiveness of organizations from different sectors of the economy.
• Analyze the bidirectional influence between the local public sector and the business sector regarding the degree of development of social responsibility practices, and analyze how this is reflected in the organization’s computer accounting system;
• Valuation of Organizations through Social Responsibility Management Systems (SGRS);
• Influence the policies of social responsibility and sustainable development in Portugal;
• Influencing the educational process of social responsibility.

The mission of the research group of Financial Accounting and Management of the Research Centre on Accounting and Taxation (CICF) is the investigation of the accounting Ontology as a factor of change of paradigm, the analysis of the differences of methodologies and their changes, and the basic assumptions underlying the different paradigms of research, looking for the construction of research paradigms in accounting.

This research group aims to achieve a better lack of preparation and utilization of business reporting, financial and non-financial, and the relevance of the normative applied taking into account the needs of the various stakeholders.

Goals

• Enrich the accounting theory by applying cross theories and methodologies traditionally used in other areas;
• Analyze the effects of psychology in accounting measurement;
• Analyze the impact, from the perspective of different stakeholders in the implementation process of the different accounting standards;
• Examine the adequacy of the existing model of enforcement, especially if it responds and meets the security desired by stakeholders;
• Contribute to the creation of a model of enforcement for businesses without quoted values in response to an identified need in accounting standards;
• Develop an integrative reporting model that contains an holistic perspective of financial accounting and management;
• Development of corporate distress prediction models using statistic techniques and artificial intelligent techniques
• Based on financial and economic data from Portuguese companies not publicly listed.
• Consider the adoption of new tools and methodologies in the field of management accounting.

The research Taxation group intends to conduct tax research in order to follow the evolution of main international tax policy and tax systems, in the OECD and in the European Union, without neglecting the national context.

Therefore, the main areas of tax research are the evaluation of fiscal policy in international and national context, the legislative and jurisprudential comparative analysis of tax systems: Portugal – Brazil, Portugal, UK, Australia, USA, Portugal – Angola and Mozambique, the new paradigm of relations in tax compliance and in tax non-compliance with tax professionals’ perceptions in relation to the tax system and, finally, the relationship between accounting and taxation.

Goals

• Analyze the evolution of fiscal policy in OECD and the European Union;
• Comparatively study the legislation and jurisprudence of tax systems: Portugal – Brazil, Portugal – UK, Australia, USA, Portugal – Angola and Mozambique;
• Investigate the new paradigm of legal and tax compliance and relationships in non-tax compliance;
• Seeing the vision of the accounting and taxation professionals in relation to the tax system;
• Analyze the relationship between accounting and taxation.