On July 4–5, 2026, the “2026 Tianfu International Accounting Symposium,” hosted by the School of Accounting at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, was successfully held in Chengdu.Building on the university’s “Disciplinary Innovation and Talent Introduction Base for Higher Education Institutions” (Base for Digital and Intelligent Accounting and Economics), a program newly approved in 2025 under the Central Government’s initiative for universities under its direct jurisdiction, the symposium brought together leading accounting scholars from world-renowned universities—including the University of Toronto, Boston College, the University of Tennessee, the National University of Singapore, Singapore Management University, the University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen)—as well as faculty and student representatives from Southwestern University of Finance and Economics.The conference featured high-level academic discussions on cutting-edge topics such as generative artificial intelligence, audit quality, cross-border regulation, insider trading detection, and the corporate information environment.

Professor Yongqiang Ma, Member of the Standing Committee of the University Party Committee and Vice President, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech. He extended a warm welcome to experts and scholars from home and abroad, reviewing the university’s century-long history of education as well as the School of Accounting’s academic strengths and international research achievements. He emphasized that this Tianfu International Accounting Academic Symposium is the first landmark international academic event since the establishment of the Innovation and Talent Introduction Base, carrying the core mission of fostering in-depth collaboration among top scholars from China and abroad and driving innovative breakthroughs in the field of digital and intelligent accounting.He called on accounting scholars worldwide to join forces in addressing the reshaping of the entire accounting information chain by new technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data, and to jointly build an accounting theoretical framework and a collaborative innovation network suited to the new era. The opening ceremony was presided over by Professor Xuesong Tang, Dean of the School of Accounting.

During the keynote speech session, Professor Luo Zuo from the National University of Singapore delivered a presentation titled “The Economics of Accounting.” The plenary session featured a total of seven presentations, chaired by Professors Tianyu Zhang, Hongtao Tan, and Lei Chen. Overseas scholars, including Professor Allen Huang from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Professor Ole-Kristian Hope from the University of Toronto, Professor Linda Myers from the University of Tennessee, Professor Susan Shu from Boston College, Professor Jeffrey Ng from the University of Hong Kong, Professor Bin Ke from the National University of Singapore, and Professor Holly Yang from the Singapore Management University, shared their research findings on cutting-edge topics such as audit quality, artificial intelligence and regulation, cross-border audit regulation, insider trading detection, and the corporate information environment.On the morning of July 5, the conference featured two parallel sessions, during which young faculty members from the School of Accounting—Ning Hu, Lu Tong, Zhiyuan Tu, and Shenghao Gao—presented their latest research on topics including audit governance, innovation incentives, M&A disclosure, and investor attention.

The successful hosting of this symposium marks a solid step forward for our university’s School of Accounting in international academic exchange and disciplinary development. As the first landmark international academic event organized by the Innovation and Talent Introduction Base for Digital and Intelligent Accounting and Economics, the symposium provided a high-level platform for academic dialogue among accounting scholars from China and abroad, while also showcasing our university’s disciplinary strength and international influence in the field of digital and intelligent accounting.Moving forward, the School will continue to use this symposium as a bridge to deepen transnational academic cooperation and advance the innovative development of the accounting discipline in the digital age.