The Impact of FAS 123R on Employee Retention
with Francesco Bova and Nan Li
Forthcoming · Accounting PerspectivesAssistant Professor · School of Accounting and Finance
Muhammad Azim
I research government procurement, sustainability reporting, ETFs and capital markets, and disclosure. I teach intermediate financial accounting at the University of Waterloo.
- University of Waterloo
- PhD, Rotman · University of Toronto
- CPA, CA (Ontario)
01
About
I am an Assistant Professor in the School of Accounting and Finance at the University of Waterloo. I research government procurement, sustainability reporting, ETFs and capital markets, disclosure, and executive compensation.
I hold a PhD in Accounting from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, and an MSc in Finance and a BComm from Queen’s University. I am a CPA, CA in Ontario. Before Waterloo I was an Assistant Professor at City University of Hong Kong, and before that I worked in Assurance and Advisory at Deloitte in Toronto.
- Position
- Assistant Professor, Accounting
School of Accounting and Finance
University of Waterloo, 2022–present - Previously
- Assistant Professor, Accounting
City University of Hong Kong, 2020–2022 - Education
- PhD, Accounting — Rotman, University of Toronto, 2020
MSc, Finance — Smith, Queen’s University, 2015
BComm, First Class Honours — Queen’s University, 2011 - Designation
- CPA, CA (Ontario, Canada)
- Practice
- Assurance & Advisory (Audit)
Deloitte, Toronto, 2011–2014 - Research interests
02
Research
Publications
Under review
Green Public Procurement: International Evidence
with Ole-Kristian Hope, Sasan Saiy and Giulia Sargiacomo
Revise and resubmit, second round · Accounting, Organizations and SocietyFunding: University of Waterloo CSPM Seed Grant (2024, 2025).
Presented at: the Third Sustainability, Natural Capital & Value Creation Conference, the Academy of International Business 2025 Conference, and the McMaster Accounting Research Symposium.
Taxing tobacco investments: a proposal for capital gains surtaxes
with Mehedi Rasel and Mathieu Poirier
Revise and resubmit · Tobacco Control (The BMJ)Passive Demand but Active Pay: The Effect of ETF Flows on CEO Compensation Design
Sole-authored
Under review · The Accounting ReviewDefensive Obfuscation: Chilling Disclosure to Prevent Information Weaponization
with Musaib Ashraf
Under review · Management ScienceRelative Legislation Intensity and Subsidiary Investment Decisions: International Evidence
with Ole-Kristian Hope and Preetika Joshi
Under review · Journal of Accounting and EconomicsWorking papers
Government Sensitivity to Negative Contractor News in Procurement
with Preetika Joshi and Allison Koester
SSHRC Insight Development Grant 2025 · CAD $52,000Presenting at: the 2026 New Zealand Finance Meeting.
A New Informed-Trading Venue: Prediction Markets and the Stock Information Environment
with Abdul Mohi Khizer and Suning Zhang
Finalizing for conference submissionWorks in progress
Proprietary Costs and Fair Value Disclosures — Evidence from Purchase Price Allocations
with Satish Sahoo
Additional data collection and analysisDo SEC and State Securities Legislators Cooperate? Evidence from USA2002
with Mahfuz Chy
Primary analysis03
Teaching
Courses taught
2025, 2026
AFM 391 — Intermediate Financial Accounting IIUniversity of Waterloo · undergraduate
Course Coordinator & Lecturer
2023
AFM 391 — Intermediate Financial Accounting IIUniversity of Waterloo · undergraduate
Lecturer
2023
ACC 781 — Introduction to Accounting ResearchUniversity of Waterloo · PhD seminar on empirical archival research
Guest Lecturer
2021–2022
AC 4301 — Corporate Accounting IICity University of Hong Kong · undergraduate, fully online
Sole Instructor
2019
RSM 221 — Intermediate Financial Accounting IIRotman, University of Toronto · undergraduate
Sole Instructor
2019
Programming for PhD Students (Python)Rotman, University of Toronto · course I designed
Sole Instructor
2016–2019
RSM 1220 — Financial Accounting and ReportingRotman, University of Toronto · MBA
Teaching Assistant
2017–2018
RSM 1222 — Managerial AccountingRotman, University of Toronto · MBA
Teaching Assistant
What students say
“Please never change the cold-calling. This was the most on it I’ve ever been on any accounting course. I knew what was going on because I had to preview the lectures beforehand.”
“The cold calling helped participation, but also encouraged students to come to class prepared which further increased our understanding. He seemed to really care about his students doing well.”
“His teaching style is elite. It can be somewhat scary but it helps so much and he’s so nice so it isn’t too scary.”
“He is able to teach these difficult concepts with test-like examples, subtle humour and real life experiences.”
“Understanding is so much more important than memorizing steps.”
“Muhammad’s lectures included many examples and his style of speaking was clear and passionate. The quality of the instruction was excellent.”
04
Projects
Live
faeconf.com
Academic Conference Tracker for finance, accounting, and economics. More than 500 conferences with submission deadlines, conference dates, locations, rankings, and travel cost estimates.
Open faeconf.com →
Research computing
Empirical methods training
Designed and taught a Python course for incoming accounting PhD students at Rotman. Taught Stata for archival research one-on-one. Supervise research assistants on my own projects.
05
Funding & Awards
Research grants
- SSHRC Insight Development GrantSocial Sciences and Humanities Research Council · 2025 · Principal InvestigatorCAD $52,000
- CSPM Seed GrantUniversity of Waterloo · 2025CAD $7,000
- CSPM Seed GrantUniversity of Waterloo · 2024CAD $7,000
- Small Research GrantUniversity of Waterloo · 2023CAD $7,500
- Small Research GrantUniversity of Waterloo · 2022CAD $7,500
- CityU Research GrantCity University of Hong Kong · 2020–2022HKD $400,000
CAD $81,000 in competitive research funding since joining Waterloo in 2022.
Awards, fellowships & scholarships
- Rotman Teaching Award, University of Toronto2019
- AAA / Deloitte Foundation / J. Michael Cook Doctoral Consortium Fellow2019
- Canadian Credit Management Foundation National Fellowship2017–2019
- Louis O. Kelso Fellowship, Rutgers University2016
- Ernst & Young Graduate Scholarship2016
- Ontario Graduate Scholarship2016
- University of Toronto Fellowship2015–2019
- Director’s Fellowship, University of Toronto2015–2019
- Melville S. Hatch Memorial Fellowship, Queen’s University2014–2015
- Queen’s School of Business Award2014–2015
- Queen’s Graduate Award2014–2015
06
Service
Ad-hoc reviewer
- Accounting Perspectives
- SSHRC Insight Grants
Conference reviewer
- AAA Annual Meeting
- CAAA Annual Conference
- University of Waterloo Ethics Symposium
- Kelso Workshop on Employee Ownership
Invited discussant
- University of Waterloo CPAO Centre for Sustainability Reporting and Performance Management Symposium
- AAA Annual Meeting
- Kelso Workshop on Employee Ownership
- Beyster Symposium on Employee Ownership
University service
- SAF Seminar Series
- SAF Sustainability Team
- Data Liaison Committee
- Tech Stack Team
- CPA Ontario CSPM Researcher
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Contact
Email is the best way to reach me. Corrections and additions for faeconf.com are welcome at the same address.