The Hong Kong Jockey Club Professorship in Accounting

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) first introduced its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Reporting Guide in 2013 to establish a framework for listed companies to voluntarily report on ESG matters and promote sustainability. As a publicly traded holding company and market regulator, HKEX is committed to providing listed companies with a clear framework for ESG disclosure, application, and implementation, through listing regulations, rules and education.

Serving as a major gateway between China and the global financial community, HKEX aims to enhance the quality of ESG disclosures and help investors better assess a company's sustainability performance and related risks.

Professor Jeffrey Ng is The Hong Kong Jockey Club Professor in Accounting at HKU Business School, The University of Hong Kong (HKU). He is a well-regarded expert in disclosure research and serves as an Associate Director of The HKU Jockey Club Enterprise Sustainability Global Research Institute, which was established by HKU Business School and funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust to create a world-class hub for best practices in sustainability.

Professor Ng’s research is on the role of accounting and corporate disclosures in capital markets, and in particular he studies the determinants and consequences of sustainability disclosures, which refer to information provided by firms and intermediaries about sustainability actions related to ESG.

Much of his work is interdisciplinary and focuses on finance and accounting issues. Professor Ng plans to extend his research on sustainability disclosures and hopes to collaborate more with industry partners so that capital markets can understand their importance.

Professor Ng has been a Professor of Accounting at HKU since July 2022. Prior to joining HKU, he was an Assistant Professor at MIT Sloan School of Management from 2008 to 2012, an Associate Professor at Singapore Management University School of Accountancy from 2012 to 2016, and a Professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University from 2016 to 2022.

He has published in several top journals, including the Journal of Accounting Research, the Journal of Accounting and Economics, The Accounting Review, Review of Accounting Studies, Contemporary Accounting Research, the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, and Management Science. He serves on the Editorial Board of The Accounting Review and Contemporary Accounting Research. He was previously an Associate Editor at European Accounting Review and a member of the Business Studies Panel of the Hong Kong Research Grants Council.

Co-authors describe Professor Ng as an efficient and effective researcher. He often takes the lead on research to ensure timely progress and publication. Professor Ng’s philosophy on publishing mirrors Marilyn vos Savant’s quote: “Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent.” Publishing in top accounting journals has become more complex, as articles have become longer in recent years, especially with the addition of online appendices. Rejection rates among the top journals are estimated at 90%–95%.

Much of accounting and corporate reporting involves following a set of rules determined by the standard-setting bodies, and some of these rules are derived from complicated, even controversial, processes. When teaching, Professor Ng focuses on building his students’ interest in the subject by emphasising the importance of accounting using real-life case studies, sharing with them his thoughts about developments in the accounting discipline, and injecting humour into his class. He goes beyond simply delivering the knowledge in the textbooks and instructor slides.