Dr. Alice Liang Xu is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Accounting at the Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester. Since joining the faculty in September 2014, Dr. Xu has contributed significantly to both teaching and research. She completed her PhD at University College Dublin, Ireland, where she also received her Master of Accounting. Her undergraduate studies were completed at Shenzhen University, China, with a major in Accounting.

Her research intersects several critical areas of financial accounting and corporate finance, focusing on AI-assisted content analysis, information environment, debt contract terms, ESG, and environmental disclosures, among other topics. Her works have been published in prominent journals such as Contemporary Accounting Research and the Journal of Corporate Finance.

Dr. Xu’s research delves into critical areas of financial accounting and corporate finance, with a particular emphasis on:

AI-Assisted Content Analysis: Leveraging advanced artificial intelligence techniques, particularly large language models (LLMs), to systematically analyze and interpret textual content from financial documents, including annual reports, conference call transcripts, ESG reports, and regulatory comment letters.

Information Environment: Exploring how the transparency and overall quality of corporate disclosures influence market perception, investor decision-making, and corporate policy.

Debt Contracting: Analyzing the detailed structure and terms of bond and syndicated loan agreements to understand the strategic interactions between creditors and corporate borrowers.

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG): Examining the drivers and implications of ESG practices, including how firm characteristics, regulatory pressures, and stakeholder expectations shape ESG strategies and disclosures, and how ESG performance affects corporate outcomes such as valuation, risk, and investor engagement.

Environmental Risk and Disclosure: Analyzing corporate reporting practices concerning environmental risks, evaluating the effectiveness of these disclosures in reducing information asymmetries.

PhD Students

Current:

Ziye Huang (2023-2028, expected), co-supervised with Prof. Ning Gao.

Guo Lu (2023-2028, expected), co-supervised with Dr. George Voulgaris.

Completed:

Jiayu Dai (2020-2024), co-supervised with Prof. Ning Gao.

Professional Services

Deputy Director for The Centre for the Analysis of Investment Risk (CAIR).

ad-hoc reviewer for Accounting and Business Research, British Accounting Review, European Journal of Finance, International Journal of Finance & Economics, International Review of Financial Analysis, Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions & Money, European Management Review.