Accounting professors honored for research impact

A Carolina trio brought home an award for research relevant to the professional practice of accounting.

The American Accounting Association (AAA) gave the 2016 AAA/Deloitte Wildman Medal Award to:

• Wayne Landsman, KPMG Distinguished Professor of Accounting
• Mark Lang, Thomas W. Hudson, Jr./Deloitte and Touche L.L.P. Distinguished Professor of Accounting
• Doctoral alum Christopher Williams (PhD ’09), associate professor of accounting at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business of the University of Michigan
• Mary Barth, Joan E. Horngren Professor of Accounting at Stanford Graduate School of Business of Stanford University

The award recognizes their paper “Are IFRS-based and U.S. GAAP-based accounting amounts comparable?” published in the August 2012 issue of the Journal of Accounting and Economics. They examine whether application of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by non-U.S. firms results in accounting amounts comparable to those resulting from application of U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) by U.S. firms.

The award along was presented at the AAA Annual Meeting on Aug. 8 in New York.

Landsman also won the award in 1985 with his mentor at Stanford, William Beaver.

The AAA award, which is sponsored by the Deloitte Foundation, was founded in 1978 to commemorate John Wildman and to encourage research relevant to the professional practice of accounting. The AAA is the largest community of accountants in academia who shape the future of accounting through teaching, research and a powerful network of thought leaders.