Professor Kevin Keasey

Position: Professor
Email: K.Keasey@lubs.leeds.ac.uk
Phone: +44(0)113 343 2618
Location: Room 1.02 16 Clarendon Place

Profile

Professor Kevin Keasey

Chair in Accounting and Finance, University of Leeds

Qualifications and Recognition

BA (Econ, Durham), MA and PhD (Econ, Newcastle)

Distinguished Academic Award, British Accounting and Finance Association (2025)

Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) (2026)

15,460 citations, h-index 61, 10 index 152

Overview

Professor Kevin Keasey has made a sustained and recognised contribution to the development of Accounting and Finance scholarship in the UK and internationally. His work has combined intellectual distinction with long-term leadership in building research capacity, doctoral training, and institutional infrastructure within the discipline.

His research has shaped understanding of financial behaviour, corporate governance, banking risk, and the interaction between financial systems, regulation, and societal challenges, including climate change.

Alongside his research, he has supervised over fifty PhD students and played a central role in establishing internationally recognised research centres and programmes that continue to influence scholarship and practice.

Research and PhD Supervision

Professor Keasey’s research comprises over 150 journal articles and 14 books, published in leading outlets including:

Journal of Accounting and Economics
Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis
Journal of Money, Credit and Banking
Journal of Corporate Finance
Accounting, Organisations and Society
The Economic Journal

His research spans four decades and centres on how individuals, firms, and markets operate under uncertainty and imperfect information. Major strands include:

• Finance and market behaviour
• Corporate governance and ownership structures
• Banking risk and financial stability
• Climate finance and environmental governance

His work on SME finance helped shape early UK policy thinking on enterprise and firm growth. Later work on corporate governance and banking risk contributed to debates around regulation and financial stability following the Global Financial Crisis. More recent work examines how financial markets and governance mechanisms influence environmental behaviour.

Alongside this research, one of Professor Keasey’s long lived passions has been doctoral supervision. Many of his students now hold senior academic (Deans and Vice Chancellors) and professional positions worldwide. For example, his students hold professorships at the universities of Bristol, Durham, Galway, Kings College, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Shanghai Jiao Tong, Sheffield and Southampton.

Externally funded research projects exceed £3m in value.

Leadership and Institution Building

Professor Keasey has played a major role in building Accounting and Finance research capacity at the University of Leeds and across the UK.

He has served more than seventeen years as Head of Department and led the development of Leeds into a leading Accounting and Finance group.

He founded:
• International Banking Institute (1997)
• Centre for Advanced Studies in Finance (2005)
• Leeds Enterprise Centre (2009)

These centres continue to support internationally recognised research and doctoral training.

Curriculum and Programme Development

Professor Keasey has contributed to the development of MBA and specialist postgraduate finance education across several UK institutions.

He played a key role in establishing programmes that ultimately contributed to the formation of Leeds University Business School and helped develop innovative postgraduate offerings in finance, economics, law and finance, and executive education. For example, he co-directed in the early 1990s the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Financial Sector Scheme for the former Soviet Union (£4.5m).

Teaching and Supervision

Professor Keasey has taught widely across accounting, finance and banking subjects, integrating academic scholarship with practical experience. His teaching has been recognised through multiple teaching and supervision awards, with students consistently highlighting the integration of academic and practical insight.

Professional and Policy Engagement

Professor Keasey’s research interests in governance and financial systems led to extensive professional engagement as entrepreneur, corporate director, adviser and mentor across listed and private companies.

His professional engagement extends the impact of his research into corporate governance, financial markets and executive decision making.

Professor Keasey’s career reflects sustained contributions to scholarship, institutional development and the education of future generations of scholars and practitioners.

Professor Kevin Keasey

Profile