Acknowledgements
Pursuing a Ph.D. project is a both painful and enjoyable experience. It’s just like climbing
a high peak, step by step, accompanied with bitterness, hardships, frustration,
encouragement and trust and with so many people’s kind help. When I found myself at the
top enjoying the beautiful scenery, I realized that it was, in fact, teamwork that got me
there. Though it will not be enough to express my gratitude in words to all those people
who helped me, I would still like to give my many, many thanks to all these people.
First of all, I’d like to give my sincere thanks to my honorific supervisor, prof. dr. M.A.
van Hoepen RA, who accepted me as his Ph.D. student without any hesitation when I
presented him my research proposal. Thereafter, he offered me so much advice, patiently
supervising me, and always guiding me in the right direction. I’ve learned a lot from him,
without his help I could not have finished my dissertation successfully.
Special thanks are also given to prof. dr. W.M. Lammerts van Bueren. He is the one who
invited me, as a visiting scholar, to Erasmus University Rotterdam for my visiting
research in 2000. He also helped me to find a supervisor when I expressed the desire to
pursue my Ph.D. research in Erasmus University Rotterdam. His encouragement and help
made me feel confident to fulfill my desire and to overcome every difficulty I encountered.
At the last stage of my dissertation, he helped me to correct grammar mistakes in my
dissertation, and suggested possible improvements. It is not sufficient to express my
gratitude with only a few words.
I also appreciate the advice of the committee members, prof. dr. M.N. Hoogendoorn RA,
prof. dr. L.G. van der Tas RA, for their critical comments, which enabled me to notice the
weaknesses of my dissertation and make the necessary improvements according to their
comments.
During my research, drs. C.D. Knoops offered me a lot of friendly help; he transferred to
me his research links and suggested to me the necessary readings for pursuing Ph.D.
research. Our conversations enlightened my way of thinking, and so I’d like to give my
sincere thanks to Mr. Knoops for his generous help.
There are two people I need to mentioned especially, Mrs. Barbara Ko and Mr. Isaac Ko,
their friendship and unselfish help enabled me to present my dissertation more fluently
and clearly in English. Especially for Mr. Isaac Ko, it is hard to imagine how he can
manage to finish editing so much work in such a short time. I owe them both my sincere
gratitude for their generous and timely help.
I would like to express my appreciation to all those companies and persons who have
offered me their time when I collected necessary data for my case study in their
companies, including Harbin Boiler Co. Ltd. and Mr. Tang Hongjie; Orient Group
Incorporation and Mr. Liu Fanhong; Shu Lun Pan Certified Public Accountants Co., Ltd.
and Mr. Li Deyuan; DTT Shanghai CPA Ltd. and Ms. Elsie Chen etc. I am special grateful
for Mr. Tang’s cooperative and comments on my case study report.
My sincere thanks go to all the organizations, which gave me their indispensable generous
sponsoring, including the Chinese Scholarship Committee, the Huygens programme, the
“Hoogeschool-Fonds 1920”, the Overseas Scholars Programme of Heilongjiang
Education Bureau, China, and CHERC. Without their support and financial help, it would
not have been possible for me to pursue and to complete this Ph.D. project successfully. I
greatly appreciate CHERC and Mrs. Tseng’s effort for offering me facilities and so much
support during my stay in Rotterdam, and for enabling me to travel back and forth
between Harbin and Rotterdam several times.
I’d like to convey my heartfelt thanks to my home university, Harbin University of
Commerce, and Accounting School of Harbin University of Commerce for offering me an
ideal environment in which I felt free and could concentrate on my research. There are so
many friends, both in China and in Rotterdam, who offered me so much kindly help. I
give my sincere thanks to all these people.
I am very grateful for my mother. Her understanding and her love encouraged me to work
hard and to continue pursuing a Ph.D. project abroad. Her firm and kind-hearted
personality has affected me to be steadfast and never bend to difficulty. She always lets
me know that she is proud of me, which motivates me to work harder and do my best.
Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my devoted husband Han Bo and my son Han
Kan. They form the backbone and origin of my happiness. Their love and support without
any complaint or regret has enabled me to complete this Ph.D. project. Being both a father
and mother while I was away was not an easy thing for my husband. He took every
responsibility and suffered all the bitterness to take care of my son and my family. Even
when my son was ill, both of them would not let me know so as to enable me to
concentrate on my research. I owe my every achievement to both of them.
Zhang Guohua
Rotterdam, January 2005