The accounting profession has been under great pressure for a long time. Several key players such as FAR and the Swedish Association of Chartered Accountants are explicitly talking about a crisis for the subject. The survival of accounting is seriously threatened. Based on these starting points, in 2014 the Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm University and Uppsala University jointly applied for funding (from Handelsbanken's research title and from the Torsten Söderberg Foundation) to establish a graduate school in accounting (FIRE). In 2015 and 2016, FIRE has admitted two cohorts of doctoral students, given three doctoral courses and organized four internal workshops. We now have thirteen active doctoral students within FIRE and a strong network between the doctoral students is being created. Another important effect of FIRE is that the cooperation between teachers and researchers at the universities has been developed and deepened. A third effect is that international researchers are linked to FIRE in various ways.

So far, FIRE can be described as a great success. We are now seeking additional funding to develop and strengthen FIRE. As of fall 2017, the Gothenburg School of Economics at the University of Gothenburg will join FIRE.