November 17, 2004

Accountancy Faculty Honored

James Myers and Linda Myers, assistant professors in the Department of Accountancy, along with Tom Omer, a colleague from the University of Illinois at Chicago, received an award for the best article published in The Accounting Review in 2003. The article appeared in The Accounting Review (Vol. 78, No. 3, 2003, pp. 779-799) and discusses the relation between the length of the auditor-client relationship and financial reporting quality.

The Financial Executives Research Foundation, Baruch College’s Center for Corporate Integrity, and the American Accounting Association chose the paper for its relevance to the profession and to academics. The paper, which addresses an important current issue in financial reporting and has possible implications for accounting policy, was honored at a recent conference in New York City.

The paper, titled "Exploring the Term of the Auditor-Client Relationship and the Quality of Earnings: A Case for Mandatory Auditor Rotation?", suggests that longer auditor tenure, on average, results in auditors placing greater constraints on management decisions in the reporting of financial performance. One of the judges on the panel selecting the award-winning paper, Raj Aggarwal, Firestone Chair at Kent State University, states "This is an important paper because it provided empirical evidence for the debate on a very timely subject."

The study is cited in an article by William Sinnett about mandatory auditor rotation in the October issue of Financial Executive magazine. A lengthy sidebar on the origins of the research and the award selection process is also included.

James Myers teaches courses in financial statement analysis and financial reporting. Linda Myers teaches courses in financial reporting and accounting measurement and disclosure. Each earned a PhD from the University of Michigan.