Researcher Highlights
Using financial insights to uplift businesses and lives

Professor Christina Boedker is an accountant and researcher bringing business and people into the financial picture. Through her award-winning work, she's enriching Australian workplaces and making tax and money smarts accessible.

Originally born in Denmark, Christina's work could be seen as bending into the achievements of her motherland – a country with a superior work-life balance and one of the highest financial literacy rates in the world.

In Australia, research, including her own, shows us that our reality is quite different.

Poor leadership and management practices in workplaces are causing burnout, emotional exhaustion and reduced productivity. In addition, low financial literacy among the vulnerable and disadvantaged is causing stress and hardship.

Lower levels of financial literacy and wellbeing are also leading to financial stress and low levels of life satisfaction, especially among younger generations.

It's these challenges that Christina is working to overcome, with her goals being to provide quality insights on Australian workplaces to enable positive change, improve tax compliance, and lift financial literacy and wellbeing.

An accounting backbone

Christine herself is as financially literate as they come.

She holds a PhD in Accounting from UNSW, an MBA in Financial Management, a Master of Commerce in Accounting and a 1st class (Honours) in Economics. She's also an accredited member of the Chartered Accountant Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ) and CPA Australia.

She has taught PhD and executive courses and been lecturer in charge of financial accounting and management accounting postgraduate courses. She now supervises PhD, masters and honours students in accounting and strategy.

Christina says the catalyst for getting involved in this field of research was the understanding that accounting is the backbone of business.

"Resources are allocated through the accounting function, strategic initiatives are supported or rejected, people are hired and fired, and the destinies of their lives are determined in the context of financial prerogatives and decisions."

A transformative project trio

Christina's research combines academic rigour with theory, industry collaboration, and applied policy work – and spans several projects.

Three key projects include the University of Newcastle Tax Clinic, the Australian Workplace Index and the Greater Bank Financial Well-being Report.

Each engages end users and provides short and long-term societal and research benefits.

Spreading tax knowledge

The Newcastle Tax Clinic was born from one of Christina's many grant wins and is one of 12 in the government's National Tax Clinic Program.

Operating out of the University's Greater Bank Finance Lab (2022-24) and administered by the Australian Tax Office, it offers tax-related support and advice provided by finance students to those who might not be able to afford it. This includes individuals, small businesses and charities.

It also conducted research into the tax compliance behaviours and needs of disadvantaged and vulnerable individuals in past years.

Benchmarking for better workplaces

The Australian Workplace Index (AWI) is a unique national benchmarking tool developed at the University of Newcastle and in partnership with Professor Kieron Meagher at the Australian National University.

The AWI aims to make Australian workplaces the best in the world. It collects quarterly data via a national workplace survey measuring leadership, wellbeing and productivity from thousands of Australian workers.

"Recent data from the AWI shows that more than half of Australian employees feel lonely in their work, with 15 per cent feeling 'extremely lonely', and younger Australians below 29 years of age feeling lonelier than any other age group," says Christina.

"Thirty-eight per cent of employees spend more than half the time (or one in two days) feeling nervous or anxious.”

"Recent results also show that workplaces with empowering leaders are better able to retain staff, with their staff being 25 per cent less likely to consider quitting their job. Furthermore, staff who work for an empowering leader are 15 per cent more productive in their job.”

"If we can set a national benchmark of best practice when it comes to high-performing workplaces, then we can help other organisations work towards achieving that, increase their productivity and empower their employees to be the best they can be at work."

The project has already seen great uptake from key businesses across the region, including Lake Macquarie City Council, PKF, 4UCare, and the Royal Australian Air Force base at Williamtown.

Reducing illiteracy for life satisfaction

The third project in her research trifecta, the Greater Bank Financial Wellbeing Project (2021-22), was a nationwide survey into financial well-being and general life satisfaction in Australia.

"The survey found that more than a third of Australians are financially illiterate but improving financial literacy leads to better financial outcomes, which in turn leads to higher overall life satisfaction."

It highlights the need for more financial education programs – something partner Greater Bank is now implementing through their financial literacy outreach program, which is developed and delivered by the University and students across the Hunter, Central Coast and Central West and Northern region of NSW.

It has the capacity to be rolled out to more high schools, with the possibility of similar programs being offered to young adults.

Researcher, author, award-winner

Christina has published in high-quality accounting publications in A* and A journals such as Accounting, Organisations and Society, the Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Critical Perspectives on Accounting and Accounting & Finance.

She has authored several government reports and books, culminating in the High Performing Workplaces Index report, launched at the Prime Minister's Future Job Forum in 2011 and used by firms to measure their workplace productivity and leadership and management skills.

Her work has also featured in over 50 media articles in the Australian Financial Review, The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald, SBS World News and SKY News.

Christina has received several awards, including the Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence and the Emerald/EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research Award in the Interdisciplinary Accounting Research category.

A better life and future for all

Despite the barrier of long-standing prejudice in academic institutions as to the value relevance of research to the business community and disincentives to engage with stakeholders outside of academic communities, Christine is driving industry collaborations and making a real impact.

Her motivation for continuing her work and what makes her feel most proud is the human benefits it brings.

"Seeing a smile on people's faces when they enjoy going to work; when they feel empowered to contribute; and when they're enabled to realise their full potential at work.”

"Seeing the relief in clients when they lodge their tax return and become tax compliant; it's a weight off their shoulders. They become 20kg lighter and can finally get on with their lives as they now, for example, qualify for a rental application, clear their debt, or are able to take out a loan."