Staff profile

Ghafran is an Associate Professor in Accounting at Durham University Business School. Ghafran holds a PhD from the University of Sheffield. His research interests lie in the area of governance and accountability, specifically focusing on the governance role of corporate boards and accountability practices of non-governmental organisations. His research work covers areas such as financial reporting and corporate social performance. He has published his work in world leading and internationally excellent academic journals. He serves on the editorial advisory board for the International Journal of Auditing. Ghafran is also a keen observer of pressing social issues of our times providing critical analysis in various media outlets.
Ghafran is interested in supervising PhD students with innovative ideas in the field of governance and accountability.

• Corporate Governance
• Accountability and transparency
• Global Governance

• Accounting Department
• Ethical Finance Accountability and Governance
• Institute for Local Governance
• Organisations and Society

Journal Article

• Ghafran, C., O'Sullivan, N. & Yasmin, S. (2022). When does audit committee busyness influence earnings management in the UK? Evidence on the role of the financial crisis and company size. Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation 47: 100467.
• Yasmin, S & Ghafran, C (2021). Accountability and legitimacy of non‐profit organisations: Challenging the current status quo and identifying avenues for future research. Financial Accountability & Management 37(4): 399-418.
• Yasmin, S., Ghafran, C. M. & Haslam, J. (2021). Centre-staging beneficiaries in charity accountability: Insights from an Islamic post-secular perspective. Critical Perspectives on Accounting 75: 102167.
• Ghafran, C. M. & Yasmin, S (2020). Ethical Governance: Insight from the Islamic perspective and an empirical enquiry. Journal of Business Ethics 167(3): 513-533.
• Yasmin, S. & Ghafran C. M. (2019). The problematics of accountability: Internal responses to external pressures in exposed organisations. Critical Perspectives on Accounting 64: 102070.
• Yasmin, S., Ghafran. C. M. & Haniffa, R. (2018). Exploring de-facto accountability regimes in Muslim NGOs. Accounting Forum 42(3): 235-247.
• Ghafran, C.M. & Yasmin, S. (2018). Audit committee chair and financial reporting timeliness a focus on financial, experiential and monitoring expertise. International Journal of Auditing 22(1): 13-24.
• Ghafran, C.M. & O’Sullivan, N. (2017). The impact of audit committee expertise on audit quality: Evidence from UK audit fees. British Accounting Review 49(6): 578-593.
• Ghafran, C.M. & O’Sullivan, N. (2013). The governance role of audit committees: Reviewing a decade of evidence. International Journal of Management 15: 381-407.