Accounting

Recent Highlights

  • The Department of Accounting has developed research expertise in all areas of accounting (auditing, financial, managerial, and tax) using both archival and experimental research methods.
  • Our senior faculty are internationally recognized for their research expertise in financial reporting and standard setting, income taxation, and managerial accounting.
  • Recently, 12 assistant and associate professors were hired from top accounting doctoral programs, all of whom are promising future accounting scholars and are eager to work with doctoral students.
  • Together, our 26 tenure-track faculty have published 15 articles per year in top accounting journals in 2015 and in 2016, making us among the most productive accounting departments at any university.

Areas of Faculty Research

One of the key strengths of our faculty is our breadth of expertise, offering students the opportunity to work with faculty in numerous domains, such as:

  • accounting for income taxes
  • accounting quality
  • agency theory
  • auditing and internal control systems
  • capital markets
  • corporate finance
  • corporate governance
  • corporate social responsibility
  • earnings management
  • experimental economics
  • financial institutions
  • financial reporting
  • managerial and cost accounting
  • managerial incentives
  • measurement issues in accounting
  • motivation and coordination within organizations
  • performance evaluation and reward systems
  • professional judgment and decision-making
  • risk measurement and disclosure
  • tax avoidance
  • taxes and business strategy
  • voluntary disclosure

Our faculty are leaders in their areas of expertise, serving as associate editors and on the editorial review board for leading journals, including:

  • Accounting, Organizations and Society
  • The Accounting Review
  • Contemporary Accounting Research
  • Management Science
  • Review of Accounting Studies

Anderson, S. B. and P. E. Hopkins (2016). “Commentary on Replications in Accounting Research and Experienced Financial Managers’ Views of the Relationships among Self-Serving Attribution Bias, Overconfidence, and the Issuance of Management Forecasts: A Replication." The Journal of Financial Reporting, 1(1), 137-142. https://aaapubs.org/doi/10.2308/jfir-51372

Arif, S., N. Marshall, J. Schroeder, and T. Yohn (2019). “A Growing Disparity in Earnings Disclosure Mechanisms: The Rise of Concurrently Released Earnings Announcements and 10-Ks.” Journal of Accounting and Economics, 68(1).  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165410118301228

Arif, S., N. Marshall, and T. Yohn (2016). “Understanding the Relation Between Accruals and Volatility: A Real Options-Based Investment Approach.” Journal of Accounting and Economics, 62(1), 65-86. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165410116300337

Balakrishnan, R., G. B. Sprinkle, and M. G. Williamson (2011). “Contracting Benefits of Corporate Giving: An Experimental Investigation.” The Accounting Review, 86(6), 1887-1907. https://aaapubs.org/doi/10.2308/accr-10127

Beneish, M.D., C.D. Marshall, and J. Yang (2017). “Explaining CEO Retention in Misreporting Firms.” Journal of Financial Economics, 123(3), 512-535. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304405X16302343

Bonsall IV, S. B., E.R. Holzman, and B. Miller (2017). “Managerial ability and credit risk assessment.” Management Science, 63(5), 1425-1449. https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/mnsc.2015.2403?journalCode=mnsc

Cheng, M., L.D. Hodder, and J.C. Watkins. “Usefulness of Interest Income Sensitivity Disclosures.” The Accounting Review, forthcoming. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2912446

Coleman, B., K. Merkley, and B. Miller. “Does FOIA Foil the SEC’s Intent to Keep Investigations Private?” Management Science, forthcoming. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3545838

Edwards, A., M. Hutchens, and S. Rego (2018). “The Pricing and Performance of Supercharged IPOs.” The Accounting Review, forthcoming. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2725531

Erickson, D., M. Hewitt, and L. A. Maines (2017). “Do Investors Perceive Low Risk When Earnings are Smooth Relative to the Volatility of Operating Cash Flows? Discerning Opportunity and Incentive to Report Smooth Earnings.” The Accounting Review, 92(3), 137-154. https://aaapubs.org/doi/abs/10.2308/accr-51568

Marshall, N. T.,J. Schroeder, and T. Yohn (2019). “An Incomplete Audit at the Earnings Announcement: Implications for Financial Reporting Quality and the Market's Response to Earnings.” Contemporary Accounting Research, 36(4), 2035-2068. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1911-3846.12472

Nichols, D. C., J. Wahlen, and M. Wieland (2017). “Pricing and Mispricing of Accounting Fundamentals in the Time-Series and the Cross-Section.” Contemporary Accounting Research, 34(3),1378-1417. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1911-3846.12317

At Kelley we view doctoral students as colleagues who are integrated into the core of our research mission. Hardly a day passes when I am not communicating with my current or former doctoral students about research projects.Brian P. Miller, Professor of Accounting