Why Accounting Matters: Evidence from Accounting’s “Big Bang”
Abstract
Humans have been keeping accounting records for more than 5,000 years, and our modern system of double-entry accounting dates back more than 500 years. Today, accounting is viewed as the "language of business" and financial accounting reports are issued by thousands of companies in hundreds of stock markets around the world. Why is accounting so durable? What makes it so important? Accounting researchers were given some clues in a recent rare event. In 2005, more than 50 countries around the world abandoned their local accounting standards, and simultaneously switched to single set of accounting rules called International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). This "Big Bang" event was a "quasi-experimental" shock to companies and stock markets around the world. It provided accounting researchers with a unique opportunity to gain insights into why accounting is important. In this lecture, the speaker will discuss what he learned from some of this research.
About the speaker
Prof. Mark DeFond obtained his BA in Business from San Francisco State University in 1978. He worked for several years as an Auditor with Deloitte (formerly Touche Ross & Co.) and has been a Certified Public Accountant in California. In 1987, he received his PhD in Business Administration at the University of Washington and joined the University of Southern California (USC) as an Assistant Professor of Accounting. He is currently the A N Mosich Chair in Accounting and Professor of Accounting at the Leventhal School of Accounting of USC.
Prof. DeFond investigates issues in auditing, international financial reporting, and earnings management. He is an Executive Editor of the Journal of Law, Finance, and Accounting, an Associate Editor of the Journal of Accounting and Economics and has served on the editorial boards of several leading academic journals, including the Accounting Review, the Journal of International Accounting Research and Accounting and Finance.
Prof. DeFond is among the 25 most highly cited authors in accounting. He is also a recipient of the American Accounting Association’s Notable Contribution to the Auditing Literature Award and a four-time MBA Golden Apple teaching award winner at the USC Marshall School of Business.
