McDonough School of Business

Accounting and Business Law

In today’s data-driven world, accounting information significantly influences decisions made by management teams and the behavior of investors, creditors, policymakers, consumers, supply chain partners, and employees. Our courses help students understand the best ways to measure and communicate an organization’s financial and non-financial activities.

The Accounting and Business Law faculty is a diverse group that helps Undergraduate, Graduate, and Executive students develop the skills they need to excel in today’s data-driven business environment. Our curriculum combines foundational accounting and financial analysis skills with leading-edge business analytics skills and soft skills such as leadership and critical thinking. Our students frequently accept positions in financial services (banking, hedge funds, private equity), startups and large corporations (roles in marketing, operations, corporate finance, business development), consulting, public accounting, and not-for-profit. Our students also pursue roles in government agencies as policymakers focusing on capital market regulation. As financial and non-financial information is pervasive in data-driven organizations, accounting knowledge is critical in many data analytics applications.

Our academic research seeks to inform real-world decisions and enhance the student learning experience. We take a multidisciplinary approach integrating economics and finance with broader perspectives on fundamental organizational practices, the global business environment, and public policy trends to meet these needs.

Please note that a different accounting curriculum exists for the Class of 2025 and beyond.

Accounting and Business Law Faculty

Kirsten Anderson

Teaching Professor

William Baber

Emeritus Professor

Thomas Cooke

Distinguished Teaching Professor

James Dalkin

Adjunct Lecturer – MSB

Aishwarrya Deore

Assistant Professor

Patricia Fairfield

Emeritus Faculty

Gilles Hilary

George R. Houston Endowed Professor

Karen Kitching

Teaching Professor
PhD, CPA, CITP

Allison Koester

Associate Professor

April Nguyen

Assistant Teaching Professor

Seyoung Park

Assistant Professor

Reining Petacchi

Dottie and Tim Hobin Associate Professor

Catherine Potter

Adjunct Faculty

Mark Rouchard

Adjunct Faculty

Jason Schloetzer

Associate Professor and Accounting Area Chair

Nina Simon

Adjunct Faculty

James P. Sinclair

Adjunct Professor

Wei Tang

Associate Professor

Xiaoli Tian

Associate Professor

Andrew Ting

Adjunct

Yifang Xie

Assistant Professor

Viktoriya Zotova

Adjunct Faculty

Recent Research

Rachel Hayes, Xiaoli (Shaolee) Tian, and Xue Wang. Deregulation and Board Policies: Evidence from Performance and Risk Exposure Measures Used in Bank CEO Turnover Decisions. Forthcoming in The Accounting Review. https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3312243

Rui Guo and  Xiaoli (Shaolee) Tian. Regulatory Transparency and Regulators’ Effort: Evidence from Public Release of the SEC’s Review Work. (2023) Forthcoming in Journal of Accounting Research. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-679X.12513

William R. Baber, Amanda Beck, and Allison Koester. The Municipal Debt Market: Evidence from GASB 34. The Accounting Review (2024). Forthcoming in http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3663553

Xiuping Wu, Qingquan Zhang, Ben McMillan, and Wei Vicky Wei Tang. DeFi Tokenomics: A Comprehensive Framework for Explaining and Forecasting Values in Decentralized Finance. Forthcoming in Blockchain and Cryptocurrency.

Aishwarrya Deore, Susanna Gallani, and Ranjani Krishnan. The Effect of Systems of Management Controls on Honesty in Managerial Reporting. Accounting, Organizations and Society (2023) 105: 101401 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2022.101401

Daniel Aobdia, and Reining Petacchi. The Effect of Audit Firm Internal Inspections on Auditor Effort and Financial Reporting Quality. (2023) The Accounting Review, 98(5), 1-29. https://doi.org/10.2308/TAR-2020-0134

Jason D. Schloetzer and Kyoko Yoshinaga. Algorithmic Hiring Systems: Implications and Recommendations for Organisations and Policymakers. Forthcoming in: Law and the Governance of Artificial Intelligence, Yearbook of Socio-Economic Constitutions. Springer, Cham. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/16495_2023_61

Gilles Hilary. Blockchain and Other Distributed Ledger Technologies, An Advanced Primer. In Innovative Technology at the Interface of Finance and Operations (V. Babich, J. Birge and G.Hilary (eds). Springer Series in Supply Chain Management, vol 11, Springer Cham. (2022).  https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-75729-8_1

Gary Chen, Xiaoli (Shaolee) Tian, and Miaomiao Yu. Redact to Protect? Customers’ Incentive to Protect Information and Suppliers’ Disclosure Strategies. Journal of Accounting and Economics (2022) 74(1):101490. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacceco.2022.101490

Matthew Cronin, David H. Erkens, Jason D. Schloetzer, and Catherine H. Tinsley. How Controlling Failure Perceptions Affects Performance: Evidence from a Field Experiment. The Accounting Review (2021) 96 (2): 205–230. https://doi.org/10.2308/TAR-2018-0146


News from Accounting and Business Law

More Accounting and Business Law Faculty News
Computer

News Story

Georgetown Receives Recognition for Exceptional Process Mining Education

Celonis, the leader in process mining data analytics, recognized Georgetown University as a Process Mining Academic Center of Excellence for its cutting-edge use of process mining curriculum.…

February 22, 2024

McDonough Welcomes Over 200 Alumni Back to the Hilltop

News Story

McDonough Welcomes Over 200 Alumni Back to the Hilltop

Hoya alumni, family, and friends recently returned to the Hilltop for the 2023 Graduate Alumni Reunion. The event celebrated the MBA, Executive MBA, Global Executive MBA, Corporate International…

October 21, 2023

Meet the New McDonough Faculty: Seyoung Park

News Story

Meet the New McDonough Faculty: Seyoung Park

We are pleased to welcome new faculty members to the Georgetown McDonough community this fall.  In our Meet the New McDonough Faculty Series, learn more about the interests, specialties,…

September 11, 2023