Research Areas:
Financial Accounting and Reporting, Auditing, International Accounting, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), Global Markets, Earnings Management

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. He is also the author of the book, Financial Accounting for Decision Makers, which aims to provide solid foundation in financial accounting and reporting at both the undergraduate and the graduate level.

Prof. DeFond is among the 25 most highly cited authors in accounting. He is also a recipient of the American Accounting Association (AAA)’s Notable Contributions to the Auditing Literature Award and a four-time MBA Golden Apple Teaching Award winner at the USC Marshall School of Business. He has been appointed the Vice President of Research & Publications at AAA for the period of 2018-2020.