Fredrik Nilsson

Associated Professor at Uppsala University Future Institutes (UUniFI); Uppsala University Conflicting Objectives Research Nexus (UUniCORN)

E-mail:
fredrik.nilsson@fek.uu.se
Visiting address:
Segerstedthuset, Dag Hammarskjölds v 7
751 05 Uppsala
Postal address:
Box 256
751 05 Uppsala

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Professor Professor in Business Studies with a specialisation in Accounting at Department of Business Studies; Professors, teachers, researchers

Telephone:
+46 18 471 12 78
E-mail:
fredrik.nilsson@fek.uu.se
Visiting address:
Ekonomikum
Kyrkogårdsgatan 10, ingång C
751 20 UPPSALA
Postal address:
Box 513
751 20 UPPSALA

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Academic merits:
PhD, Docent

Short presentation

I have been Professor of Business Studies, specialising in Accounting, at Uppsala University since 2010. Before that, I was Professor of Economic Information Systems at Linköping University. My research mainly focuses on how information systems (e.g., financial accounting, management control, and risk management) are designed and used to formulate and implement strategies.

Keywords

  • accounting research group

Biography

I have been Professor of Business Studies, specialising in Accounting at Uppsala University since 2010. Before that, I was Professor of Economic Information Systems at Linköping University. I have been a Visiting Scholar at the Scandinavian Consortium for Organizational Research, Stanford University (September - December 2015) and an Academic Visitor at Saïd Business School, Oxford University (September 2023 - February 2024). In 2016 I was awarded "Ekonomiforskningsstiftelsens forskarpris 2016" at the Academic Ceremony at Mid Sweden University.

My research interests lie in issues relating to strategy and information systems (e.g., financial accounting, management control and risk management). I am particularly interested in understanding the role of these (accounting) information systems in formulating and implementing strategies. Within this broad area of interest I have published several monographs, edited volumes and scientific articles.

Examples of book publications include Strategic Risk Management and Sustainable Banking (together with Jason Crawford, Routledge), Exploring Fund Management Expertise (editor, Springer), Intuitive Expertise and Financial Decision-Making (together with Michael Grant, Routledge), Theories and Perspectives in Business Administration (editor together with Ulla Eriksson-Zetterquist and Magnus Hansson, Studentlitteratur) and Strategy, Control and Competitive Advantage: Case Study Evidence (editor together with Erik Jannesson and Birger Rapp, Springer).

I have published articles in scientific journals such as Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Accounting & Finance, British Accounting Review, British Journal of Management, European Management Journal, Management Accounting Research, Qualitative Research in Accounting and Management and Scandinavian Journal of Management (at the end of this description you can find a list of selected publications from the period before I joined Uppsala University).

I am currently studying (1) Integrated reporting and control with a focus on coordination (i.e., technical, organisational and cognitive integration); (2) Intuitive expertise in financial decision-making (i.e., auditing and fund management); and (3) Sustainability strategies, accounting and control.

Teaching, supervision and lectures:

I have extensive teaching experience from both the undergraduate and the graduate levels, including lecturing at Fudan University in Shanghai, China. Today I am involved in our Master Programme in Accounting and Financial Management (with two specialisations: Accounting, Governance and Financial Analysis; and Strategic Management Control). In my field of expertise I have given numerous talks at conferences for practitioners in Sweden and abroad. I have for example given several talks at the annual “Controller day” – a meeting place for scholars and practitioners alike interested in management control (an annual event organised by Ekonomistyrningsforum). I am also, together with Jason Crawford and Mats Målqvist, one of the initiators of the Uppsala Ministry for the Future (inspired by – and in partnership with – the Oxford Ministry for the Future).

I have supervised numerous Ph.D. students (as a principal adviser: 9 Ph.D. dissertations, 5 Licentiate theses). Today I am the principal advisor to 2 Ph.D. students. I have been a member of 18 evaluation committees for the Ph.D. degree, been an opponent on 12 Ph.D. dissertations and on 5 licentiate theses. I have been involved in several evaluation assignments as an expert reviewer (sakkunnig): 6 positions as Assistant Professor (Gotland University College, Linköping University, Mälardalen University College, Stockholm School of Economics), 6 Associate Professorships (Gothenburg University, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Linnaeus University, Mid Sweden University, Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm University), 1 Consulting Professor (Linköping University), 2 Full Professors (Mid Sweden University, University of Agder) and 1 Chaired Professor in Accounting (Linköping University).

Assignments and other relevant skills:

I am Chairman of the Swedish Research School of Management and Information Technology (Forskarskolan Management och IT), Member of the Examination Council (Examensrådet) at the Swedish Inspectorate of Auditors (Revisorsinspektionen), Member of the Research Committee of Handelsbanken Research Foundations (Handelsbankens forskningsstiftelser) and Member of the Management Team for the Research School in Accounting (Forskarskolan i Redovisning).

I have been a member of the Docent Award Board, Faculty of Social Sciences (Docenturnämnden, Samhällsvetenskaplig fakultet) 2014-2026 (Chairman 2020-2026), Member of the Knowledge Foundation’s Evaluation Committee for Industrial Graduate Schools, 2019–2026 (Chairman 2022-2026), Chairman of the Swedish Academy of Auditing (Svenska Revisionsakademin) 2015-2023 (before that I was Vice Chairman) and a Delegate, Representative Assembly (hörandeförsamlingen) for the election of the Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Uppsala University in 2011.

At Linköping University I was Second Deputy Head for the Department of Management and Engineering with some 400 employees (2007-2010). I have also held numerous other leadership positions at Linköping University (e.g., Division Representative [Economic Information Systems], Division Director [Information Systems and Management], Member of the Management Council [Department of Computer and Information Science]).

For more than ten years (1992-2004) I was employed part-time at Deloitte, in the final years as a Senior Manager and member of the management team for the Stockholm practice. I participated in over 50 consulting assignments involving all types of business organisations as well as a broad spectrum of industries. During 2000-2001 I was a personal advisor and assistant to Dr. Hans-Rudolf Dicke, European Director of the Strategy & Operations service line at Deloitte. My responsibilities in that role included co-ordination of business-development activities in a service area that engaged more than 700 consultants.

Selected publications (pre 2010)

  • Nilsson, F. (1997) Strategi och ekonomisk styrning: En studie av hur ekonomiska styrsystem utformas och används efter företagsförvärv (Strategy and Management Control Systems: A Study of the Design and Use of Management Control Systems Following Takeover) (dissertation), Linköping: Linköping Studies in Science and Technology.
  • Nilsson, F. & Rapp, B. (1999) Implementing Business Unit Strategies: The Role of Management Control Systems, Scandinavian Journal of Management, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 65-88.
  • Jansson, Å., Nilsson, F. & Rapp, B. (2000) Environmentally Driven Mode of Business Development: A Management Control Perspective, Scandinavian Journal of Management, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 305-333.
  • Kald, M., Nilsson, F. & Rapp, B. (2000) On Strategy and Management Control: The Importance of Classifying the Strategy of the Business, British Journal of Management, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 197-212.
  • Nilsson, F. (2000) Parenting Styles and Value Creation: A Management Control Approach, Management Accounting Research, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 89-112.
  • Nilsson, F. & Olve, N-G. (2001) Control Systems in Multibusiness Companies: From Performance Management to Strategic Management, European Management Journal, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 344-358.
  • Nilsson, F. (2002) Strategy and Management Control Systems: A Study of the Design and Use of Management Control Systems Following Takeover, Accounting & Finance, vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 41-71.
  • Nyman, C., Nilsson, F. & Rapp, B., 2005, Accountability in Local Government: A Principal-Agent Perspective, Journal of Human Resource Costing & Accounting, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 123-137.
  • Nilsson, F. & Rapp, B. (2005) Understanding Competitive Advantage: The Importance of Strategic Congruence and Integrated Control, Heidelberg: Springer.
  • Nilsson, F. & Olve, N-G. (eds) (2006) Ekonomiska informationssystem: Där ekonomi och IT möts (Economic Information Systems: Where Managerial Economics and IT Meet), Lund: Studentlitteratur.
  • Ahlström, P., Nilsson, F. & Olve, N-G. (2007) Mobilising and Nurturing Collaboration in Research: The Value of a Focused Imagination, International Journal of Action Research, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 297-323.
  • Hedman, J., Nilsson, F. & Westelius, A. (eds) (2009) Temperaturen på affärssystem i Sverige (Taking the Temperature of ERP Systems in Sweden), Lund: Studentlitteratur.

Media

The Uppsala Ministry for the Future is presented here:

Can authors help researchers better harness the power of imagination in modern research? – Uppsala University

Uppsala Ministry for the Future – inspiring us to meet future societal challenges – Uppsala University

Fredrik Nilsson

Publications

Recent publications

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Books

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