On the evening of May 18, a classroom on the eighth floor of the Sir Run Run Shaw Building at Yunnan University of Finance and Economics was packed to capacity. The 29th Doctoral Forum, hosted by Professor Na Chaohong, Deputy Dean of the School of Accounting, was held as scheduled.

“These academic forums, which broaden academic horizons and stimulate innovative thinking, are well-received by students and are held every two weeks,” explains Na. Similar themed lectures, academic training camps, and case analysis competitions are abundant in the School of Accounting. Na believes such academic activities significantly cultivate students’ research interests and prepare future research talents in advance.

Having been deeply involved in financial management education and teaching for 15 years, Na has his own understanding of contemporary financial accounting: “In the past, accountants only needed to know how to keep books and prepare financial statements, but now they need to be able to calculate, understand operations, and make decisions.” He explains that as society continues to progress, accounting has evolved from financial accounting to management accounting and now to strategic management accounting. Consequently, the role of financial functions has also undergone significant changes, posing new requirements for the cultivation of financial management talents in universities.

In addition to financial management, Na’s other major research focus is corporate governance. “Capital markets and investment financing, group governance, executive incentives and compensation, corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions—these are all critical issues related to enterprise development, addressing real problems encountered in business growth,” he says.

Focusing on these two directions, Na has led four projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. He has also developed over 20 cases, including “Reunion at Jia Hui, A Decade of Prosperity: The ‘Mixing’ and ‘Reformation’ of Yunnan Baiyao”, among which 7 were selected by the China Management Case Sharing Center, 8 by the China Professional Degree Teaching Case Center, 4 won the National MBA Top 100 Cases Award, and 3 received the National MPAcc Excellent Cases Award.

In April this year, Na’s project “Empowering the Whole Industry Chain: The Transformation of Yuntianhua Group” successfully passed the review and was approved as a key project, becoming the first national top 100 excellent management case key project in Yunnan Province.

Currently, Na is leading several ongoing National Natural Science Foundation projects, including “Research on the Inverted Motivation and Economic Consequences of Executive Compensation in State-Owned Enterprise Groups” and “Research on Financial Sharing and Corporate Value Creation under Digital Transformation Orientation”. “The governance mechanism, talent selection and utilization mechanism, and incentive mechanism of state-owned enterprise groups are essential for optimizing SOE reforms and enhancing their vitality and efficiency. Promoting financial digitalization will significantly reduce corporate costs and improve efficiency,” he notes. Na is committed to continuing his role as a university researcher, serving the economic and social development of the local region.

(This article was reprinted from the September 27, 2023, issue of Yunnan Daily, page 7.)