Ongoing mentorship is a critical element of the Deloitte IAAER Scholarship Programme and well-known and highly accomplished accounting experts have been assigned as mentors to each scholar to support them as they increase their exposure to internationally recognised accounting scholars, best practices in accounting and business education and research, and a global peer network. Mentor Sidney Gray (University of Sydney) states:

Our aim is to inspire and develop young scholars from the emerging economies to achieve their full potential as teachers and researchers in the increasingly competitive world of accounting and business education.

Former IASB member Mary Barth (Stanford University), who is also a mentor in the programme, adds:

Conference participation enables [the scholars] to actively engage with a community of colleagues, which is lacking in [their] home environment. Such engagement is crucial for a researcher to be successful.

The scholars in the first round of scholarships were chosen from Brazil, Indonesia, Poland, Romania and South Africa:

• Since joining the programme, Nadia Albu of Bucharest University of Economic Studies has published papers in the Journal of International Financial Management and Accounting, Research in Accounting in Emerging Economies, and Critical Perspectives on Accounting. She is currently Senior Fulbright Grantee to the University of Dayton, OH.
• Fernando Dal-Ri Murcia of University of São Paulo has published several papers on IFRS adoption in Brazil and was included in the SSRN's Top Ten download list for Emerging Markets for his paper “Economic Effects of IFRS Adoption in Brazil: An Empirical Analysis of Stock Price Synchronicity”. He has become a member on the Conceptual Framework Task Force of the Brazilian accounting standard-setter.
• The Polish scholar Konrad Grabiński of Cracow University of Economics has published two books on international accounting (in 2013 and 2014) and took part in the consortium and workshop on "Integrating IFRS into the classroom" at the 2014 annual midyear meeting of the international accounting section of the AAA.
• Elmar Venter from South Africa published papers in Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, The International Journal of Accounting, and Abacus. He became an IAAER ad hoc committee member on the comment letter to the IASB on its Conceptual Framework Discussion Paper, was granted the Exceptional young researcher award 2014 of his home University of Pretoria and was a visiting scholar at Stanford Graduate School of Business in February 2014.
• In 2014, Singgih Wijayana of Gadjah Mada University joined the programme as a replacement for another scholar from Indonesia. He is a member of the Indonesia Adopted Accounting Standards Implementation Team and meets regularly with five managing partners from big accounting firms thus linking academe, industry, and the accounting profession.

The programme has provided the scholars with a platform to become connected within the international accounting academic community. Yet while being in the programme has been a personal growth experience for them, one scholar stresses that the sponsors are “not only investing in five scholars, but in a broader academic community in emerging economies”.

Please click for our earlier article on launching the programme and more information on the Deloitte Global website and visit SSRN for insights into the latest research by the scholars.