Delfina Gomes, a lecturer at the School of Economics, Management and Political Science (EEG) at the University of Minho, has received the Robert W. Gibson Manuscript Award as co-author of the best article published in the past year in the international journal *Accounting History*, the leading publication in the field.

The award was presented at the annual conference of the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand (AFAANZ) in Melbourne, Australia. The prize recognises the article “How does accounting history shape the past, present and future of society?”, co-authored by Delfina Gomes, Karen McBride of the University of Glasgow, and Michele Bigoni of the University of Kent, UK.

The study argues that the history of accounting serves not only to understand the past: it also helps to interpret current challenges and guide future decisions within organisations and society. The authors maintain that this field should engage more with other disciplines and influence public policy and professional practice in the face of challenges such as climate change, inequality, digitalisation and artificial intelligence.

This article was unanimously selected by the editorial board of *Accounting History*, published by the multinational Sage, and by the AFAANZ Accounting History Group, and was deemed to have made the greatest contribution to the scientific literature in this field last year. “I am delighted by this distinction, which crowns three decades of research and proves that we are on the right track, whilst also enabling Portugal and EEG-UMinho to establish themselves in terms of international scientific excellence,” says Delfina Gomes.

The School of Economics, Management and Political Science at the University of Minho (EEG) is proud to announce that Cleide Dantas Carneiro, a PhD student in Business Sciences, presented her doctoral thesis entitled “To Donate or Not to Donate? The relationship between information disclosure and donations in non-profit organisations”, on 7 July 2026.

In the author’s own words:


"O Terceiro Setor tem ampliando progressivamente a sua atuação, assumindo responsabilidades de natureza social, corporativa, comunitária e individual. Para financiar suas atividades recorre a recursos provenientes do Estado, de doações individuais e empresariais, da venda de produtos e serviços, de parcerias com outras entidades e de transferências de agências de cooperação internacional.

Fundamentada na Teoria da Legitimidade, esta tese tem como objetivo analisar de que forma as informações financeiras e não financeiras influenciam a tomada de decisão das empresas em doar ou não recursos para as organizações (sem fins lucrativos) do Terceiro Setor. Para tal foi realizada uma revisão bibliográfica e documental, com o intuito de enquadrar o Terceiro Setor no contexto brasileiro, e identificar, na literatura, as variáveis que podem afetar a tomada de decisão do doador. Posteriormente, foi aplicado um questionário a empresas da Região Metropolitana de Salvador, no Brasil. Os dados foram tratados por meio de Análise Fatorial Exploratória e, posteriormente, os fatores foram submetidos a uma Regressão Logística, para estimar a probabilidade de cada fator influenciar a decisão de doação.

Os resultados revelam que os fatores Diversificação das Receitas - Fatorial e Comercialização aumentam a probabilidade de doação, sendo este último o de maior impacto positivo. Em contrapartida, os fatores Suspensão da Doação e Missão, Visão e Valores reduzem essa probabilidade. Já os fatores Confiança - Fatorial, Informação Financeira, Especificidade do Brasil - Fatorial, Reputação e Auditoria não apresentaram efeitos estatisticamente significativos.

Este estudo contribui para a literatura ao investigar a relação entre informações financeiras e não financeiras e a decisão de doação empresarial com base em dados primários obtidos por meio de surveys, em contraste com estudos anteriores que se basearam em experimentos e dados secundários. Além de propor um instrumento original de identificação de fatores, oferece diretrizes para que as organizações de o Terceiro Setor aprimorem a comunicação com doadores corporativos, aumentando a transparência e atratividade dos seus relatórios. Também contribui para o desenvolvimento de normas contábeis e regulatórias mais eficazes, que favoreçam a prestação de contas e a captação de recursos. As limitações deste trabalho referem-se ao tamanho e heterogeneidade da amostra, o que pode restringir a generalização dos resultados, mas sem comprometendo a validade interna da investigação."

IDRYL Technologies presented a prize worth 1,000 euros to recognise the best project carried out as part of the ‘Project in Applied Economics’ module at the School of Economics, Management and Political Science (EEG) of the University of Minho.

The winning team was Team 3, with the project “Assessment of the impact of MobiAve on school accessibility and the use of public transport”, developed in collaboration with Transdev. The project was carried out by students Beatriz Ramos, Diana Caridade, Eduardo Diegues, João Gomes, Maria Saraiva and Victória Furtado, under the supervision of Professor Carla Sá, from the Department of Economics at the EEG.

The ceremony was attended by Carlos Guerreiro, representing IDRYL Technologies, the President of the EEG, Luís Aguiar-Conraria, and Professor Carla Sá.

The Applied Economics Project is a module common to all the School’s degree programmes, challenging students to develop projects in partnership with organisations and companies, addressing specific problems facing the market and society. This approach enables students to consolidate the knowledge acquired throughout their academic studies, whilst promoting direct contact with the professional world.

During the session, the importance of the partnership between EEG and IDRYL Technologies was highlighted as an example of the School’s close ties to the business and institutional sectors. The company also expressed its desire to continue and expand this collaboration, recognising the value of the projects developed by the students and their potential to help address the real challenges faced by organisations.

Professor Marieta Alexandra Moreira Matos Valente sat her Aggregation Examination in Economics at the School of Economics, Management and Political Science of the University of Minho, consolidating her academic and scientific career in this field.

The subject area for the qualification was “Behavioural and Experimental Economics”.

The examination board, chaired by Luís Francisco Gomes Dias Aguiar-Conraria, Full Professor in the Department of Economics at the School of Economics, Management and Political Science (EEG) of the University of Minho, also included Sofia Berto Villas-Boas, Full Professor at the University of California, Berkeley; Maria Joana Dantas Vaz Pais, Full Professor at the Higher Institute of Economics and Management, University of Lisbon; Maria da Luz Loureiro-Garcia, Full Professor at the University of Santiago de Compostela; and Odd Rune Straume, Full Professor at the School of Economics, Management and Political Science.

Professor Marieta Valente was unanimously approved by the jury.