Professor Seppo Ikäheimo is the Espoo Ambassador 2019

Seppo Ikäheimo, Professor of Corporate Governance (Accounting), is the Head of the Department of Accounting in the School of Business. His specialities are Corporate Governance and, in particular, compensation, ownership, investor relationships and the work of a board of directors as well as the valuation of a company.

In addition to scientific research, Ikäheimo writes textbooks and practical works. He has also arbitrated several cases of redemption of minority shareholders and shared his expertise in numerous legal cases. Furthermore, he consults in matters of his field of expertise.

Ikäheimo is actively involved in developing education and he sees education as the most central method of societal impact. Previously, he has worked as a Vice-Dean of Education in the School of Business. Currently, he is in charge of the accounting basics course of the first-year Bachelor students, the Master’s level Corporate Governance course and the national, fully digitised Basics of Financial Management course for non-business students, which was recently awarded by the Finnish Business School Graduates association.

Sustainability is close to professor’s heart. This morning he arrived at his workplace – jogging.

‘From the perspective of sustainable development, the biggest challenge in organizing international conferences is traveling, especially flying. Compensation will be a key contributor to sustainable development for conference organizers and participants, but it must be voluntary,’ says Seppo Ikäheimo.

Ikäheimo has held various roles in about 50 different congresses since 1990. In 2021, Ikäheimo will bring 1,500 accounting academicians to Espoo to European Accounting Association’s (EEA) annual conference. Ikäheimo considers these international conferences vital networking events where relationships crucial to research and cooperation are created.

‘Every now and then I also want to take the responsibility of organising these events. The Helsinki Metropolitan Area in its entirety is a great place to hold an international conference, and Otaniemi and its campus area are a beautiful part of Finland. The densely built campus area offers a unique mix of seaside, nature and built environment as well as opportunities for meeting others,’ says Professor Ikäheimo, the freshly appointed Espoo Ambassador.