Thought leadership in action:
Chris Duff is dedicated to contributing bright ideas
to improve health care and financial literacy in BC.
MEMBER PROFILE
Christian H. Duff, CPA, CA, PhD
Professor Emeritus, Royal Roads University
“Why are things done this way? Is there a
better way?”
Chris Duff had already been teaching accounting and finance full-time at Royal Roads
University for about seven years when he found
himself pondering such questions in 2005.
“I pursued teaching initially because I wanted
to pass on my knowledge and skills to others,”
he says. “But as time passed, my own curiosity
increased, and I became somewhat dissatisfied
with aspects of my education.”
This education consisted of a B.Sc. in chemistry with first-class honours from the University
of Sussex and a master’s degree in business
from Cass Business School at City University
in London, England. He’d also earned his CA
in Canada and his FCA in England and Wales,
and had gained experience working in senior
management with organizations in the UK and
Canada prior to entering academia.
“My business experience convinced me that
I was more interested in the relationships
between people in organizations than in the
technical aspects of accounting,” Chris says.
“But I had never pursued the study of social
science in a serious way, and I had no research
training, so I couldn’t effectively answer a lot of
the questions I was asking. I realized that the
46 CPABC in Focus •May/June 2015
only way I could be satisfied was to pursue a
PhD.”
In 2006, bolstered by the support of the
Chartered Accountants’ Education Foundation
of BC (CAEF), which had chosen him as the
first recipient of its newly launched Doctoral
Support Program,* Chris began his studies at
London South Bank University in England,
researching cost-management techniques in
BC’s health-care sector.
“I recognized the challenges BC faced in
funding health care with an aging population,” he says. “By pursuing research in this
area, I hoped to be able to contribute in some
small way.”
At the time, Chris had no way of knowing
that his research would soon be interrupted by
not one, but two life-threatening illnesses. The
first arose in 2007, while he was in England
presenting a conference paper.
“Shortly after the conference, I found myself
in emergency,” he recalls. “The following day,
they concluded that I needed emergency heart
surgery—a quadruple bypass.”
His wife Julia, also a CPA, CA, caught the
next plane to be by his side. The tables were
turned in 2009, when a routine exam led to
a cancer diagnosis for Julia. Chris put his re-
Profile by Michelle McRae
Photo by Kent Kallberg Studios
search on hold to act as nurse over the 12month period of surgery, chemotherapy, and
radiation that followed.
Happily, both are now in good health. Chris
became a professor emeritus at Royal Roads
in 2010, completed his doctoral degree in
2013, and attended his graduation ceremony
last fall. He now has two publications on healthcare management under his belt, and will be
presenting at the CPA Canada-sponsored conference of the Canadian Academic Accounting
Association in Toronto in May.
Chris also volunteers his skills to CPA Canada’s Financial Literacy Program, serving as an
area leader and instructor in Vancouver (see
page 20). He is also the president designate of
Autism Community Training and a member
of MOSAIC’s finance committee.
So, what about the questions that set his
doctoral odyssey in motion?
“I’m very happy with what I achieved in the
PhD process,” Chris says. “It allowed me to
take a different perspective on the world. I have
a whole new framework for researching problems and pursuing solutions. In that sense, I
am now able to answer those questions.”
*A new charitable education entity will be created for CPABC. Stay tuned.