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Dr Zezeng Li

Zezeng

Lecturer in Accounting

Email: zezeng.li@qmul.ac.uk

Profile

Roles: 

Biography:

Dr Zezeng Li is a Lecturer in Accounting and joined the School of Business and Management in 2021. Zezeng earned a PhD in Accounting from University of Exeter, an MSc in Accounting Accountability and Financial Management in King’s College London, and a Bacholar’s degree in International Accounting at China. During his PhD studies, he worked as a teaching assistant for various modules in Accounting and Finance. Zezeng’s current research activity involves investigation of pension de-risking strategies and their impact on the companies and pension fund.

Google Scholar page:

https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=TWvA3E0AAAAJ 

 

Teaching

Undergraduate:

BUS224: International Corporate Reporting 

BUS021: Financial Accounting 

Postgraduate:

MSc dissertation supervision 

Zezeng is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. 

Research

Research Interests:

  • Financial Accounting
  • Pension Accounting
  • Corporate governance of pension fund

Zezeng’s current research broadly looks into pension accounting, corporate finance perspective of pension fund, corporate governance. In particular, his research interest focus on what is the effect of pension de-riskings strategies on firm risk and pension risk. He has investigated the relationship between corporate governance of sponsoring firm and pension de-risking strategies. In addition to the research on firm with defined benefit pension fund, he has joint project on environmental, social and governance on pension investments and business ethics.

Centre and Group Membership:

Member of Accounting & Accountability Research Group (AARG)

Member of Behavioural Finance Working Group (BFWG)

Selected Publications

  • Kilincarslan, E., Li, Z., & Li, J. (2025). Firm-level climate change exposure and credit ratings.Economics Letters, 112512. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112512
  • Demiralay, S., Kilincarslan, E., & Li, Z. (2025). LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion and corporate environmental performance.Business Strategy and the Environment.  
  • https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.70134
  • Li, Z., & Cowton, C. J. (2023). Defined benefit pension de-risking strategy: Determinants of pension buy-ins. Accounting Forum, 47(1), 123–145.https://doi.org/10.1080/01559982.2021.2024011
  • Li, Z., & Kara, A. (2022). Pension de-risking choice and firm risk: Traditional versus innovative strategies.International Review of Financial Analysis, 81, 102064. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.irfa.2022.102064
  • Zheng, C., Li, Z., & Wu, J. (2022). Tourism firms’ vulnerability to risk: The role of organizational slack in performance and failure.Journal of Travel Research, 1–47. (In press/advance online publication).
  • Li, Z., & Al-Najjar, B.(2022). Impact of board composition on pension de-risking strategies. British Journal of Management. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12501
  • Kilincarslan, E., Elmagrhi, M. H., & Li, Z. (2020). Impact of governance structures on environmental disclosures in the Middle East and Africa. Corporate Governance, 20(4), 739–763. https://doi.org/10.1108/CG-08-2019-0250

Note: For more recent publication, please refer to my google scholar page. 

Supervision

Areas of Supervision Expertise: 

Dr Li welcomes prospective PhD students who are interested in an area of capital market based accounting and corporate governance of pension fund. 

Current doctoral students

  • Hussein Ahmad Mousa Bataineh (Co-Supervise with Peng Ni), "The Impact of the Chief Sustainability Officer on Pension Asset Allocation"
  • Shibo Fang (Co-Supervise with Zhe Li), “The Influence of Firm-Level Climate Change Exposure on Pension Asset Allocation Decisions"

Public Engagement

Events & Talks

Codes & Culture – quality counts — Speaker & Co-author
Institute of Business Ethics (IBE) × Queen Mary University of London (School of Business & Management)
Presented joint research on how the quality of corporate Codes of Ethics shapes organisational culture and employee satisfaction; convened discussion and networking for ethics and culture leaders.

Codes of Ethics—What Are They For, and Are They Effective? — Speaker
Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland (CGIUKI) Annual Conference
Shared evidence from FTSE 350 firms on the link between code quality, employee satisfaction, and culture, with practical guidance on effective code design and governance. (Co-speakers included Prof. Chris Cowton and Dr Samuel Tosin Lawal, IBE.)

Research Highlights

Quality matters: when Codes of Ethics can make a real difference — Institute of Business Ethics (IBE) Blog
Short piece distilling our FTSE 350 findings on why the quality of Codes—rather than their mere presence—correlates with stronger employee satisfaction and cultural outcomes, and what “good” looks like in code design and governance.
Link: https://www.ibe.org.uk/resource/quality-matters-when-codes-of-ethics-can-make-a-real-difference.html.

 

Media Coverage

“Why Climate Risk Transparency Pays.” Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog, 15 Aug 2025.
Coverage of my research on climate-risk disclosure and firm outcomes.
Link: https://clsbluesky.law.columbia.edu/2025/08/15/why-climate-risk-transparency-pays/

Fellowships & Institutional Roles

  • Impact Fellowship, School of Business & Management — awarded to develop an impact case study.
  • Pathway Lead (Work, Organisation & Business Management), London Interdisciplinary Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership (LISS-DTP).

Professional Memberships

  • European Accounting Association (EAA)
  • British Accounting & Finance Association (BAFA)
  • American Accounting Association (AAA)

 

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