2023 Annual Report

Michele Frank created a new Honors version of the introductory financial accounting course (ACC 221). This course focuses on the important role accounting information plays in decision-making and was designed to help students understand why knowledge of accounting will be critical to their success, regardless of their intended career path.

Eric Marinich recorded 32 videos for ACC 222 discussing the concepts covered each week. The 10-minute videos are made available to students to supplement the in-class instruction. Students can use the videos as a study aid for assessments. In addition, Marinich created a new project for the honors section of the course requiring students to create shorter versions (1-2 minutes per video) of these videos.

Accountancy faculty members Jon Pyzoha, Matt Wieland, and Brian Ballou were busy in the month of June as they worked on restructuring the financial statement audit (ACC 453/553) and graduate assurance (ACC 653) courses to reflect the industry’s shift to a digital, platform-based audit approach and expansion of the service from financial reporting to financial/ESG reporting and, likely, to integrated reporting (which includes additional, nonfinancial information).

Professors Pyzoha and Wieland attended a symposium in Chicago organized by the EY Academic Resource Center (EYARC) to learn about cutting-edge, innovative cases and curriculum materials from EY as well as from professors from across the country.

In addition, Professors Pyzoha and Ballou spent a day at the EY Chicago office to learn from a number of EY professionals in financial and ESG assurance and advisory, including Marty Schneider ’00 (assurance partner) and David Shade ’00 (advisory partner), who are the company’s Miami relationship partners, as well as Anne Munaretto (ESG advisory/assurance partner), Ashley Freiberg (assurance senior manager), Eileen Walsh (assurance senior manager), Cara Samz (ESG senior manager), Gloria Liu (ESG staff), Katherine McGinn (ESG staff), and Blake Smith (assurance staff).

In August, Professors Jon Pyzoha, Brian Ballou and Dan Heitger visited KPMG Cincinnati to advance their understanding of audit technologies and ESG audit methodologies in the quickly evolving audit landscape. They spent a day with a number of KPMG professionals in audit technology and ESG methodology, including Brian Foster (audit technology business office lead partner), Carl Gerber (audit chief data officer), Paige Wolfenden ’10 (ESG professional practice director), and Katelin Gruver ’10 (audit managing director).

In September, the three faculty members also had an in-depth virtual discussion with Steve Hajdukovic (U.S. audit learning leader), Allison Nucerino ’94 (audit learning & development director), and Lisa O’Donnell (instructional design director) to discuss how the firm is using automation to better determine risks of material misstatement to identify audit risks to test, and how the Firm is approaching the learning and development of new hires and more senior auditors.

These efforts were supported by the 2023 Summer Curriculum Grants from the Farmer School of Business to incorporate new developments in auditing and audit technologies and develop scaffolding in the financial statement audit (ACC 453/553) and graduate assurance (ACC 653) courses

Dan Heitger redesigned ACC 222 from scratch for a small-section environment (as opposed to one with several hundred students in the auditorium). The new approach this fall appears to be working well, with sophomore students from 14 different majors who are interacting energetically with one another on case assignments, group projects, and impromptu classroom debates. “I am very much enjoying working with these students,” Professor Heitger said.

Dale Stoel researched success factors for students taking ACC 222 and worked on developing curriculum for small-section delivery. Curriculum development focused on attempting to define key business questions students would understand and expect to see in an organization, and developing ACC 222 materials based on those conversations. Focusing on business activities and clarifying the business terminology used will allow students to connect what they learn in class to their other courses.

Amanda Pyzoha is working on completely revising three courses: (1) ACC 490D, ACC’s winter term trip to New York and DC: As several organizations that have long been included in the program are no longer open to visits, new potential sites, cities, and alumni contacts are being developed for this program. (2) ACC 490D will also be adding an optional one-credit add-on course that incorporates material from ACC 256 (Accountancy Career Exploration and Planning). (3) ACC 256 is being redesigned to attract more majors and refine the course learning objectives. Changes include a shift to a different delivery model (a shorter class period, using case studies, more group work, integration of different skills, skills workshops, and a focus on the role of accounting in different industries (rather than careers across industries).

William Brink’s summer research grant focused on the impact of graph distortion and vividness on nonprofessional investors’ ethical perceptions of management and their willingness to invest.

Firm management often uses various techniques to attract investors. Two common techniques are (1) distorting graphs and (2) using vivid presentations to present data in a favorable light that seems to bias investor decision making. In this study, we utilized a 2×2 experimental design and captured the singular and joint effects of distortion and vividness on nonprofessional investors’ perceptions of the firm and the ethicality of the firm ethics. The joint presence of distortion and vividness leads to nonprofessional investors perceiving the company has a stronger future earnings growth potential, which leads to a stronger perception of the ethicality of the graphical presentation.

Jon Grenier’s summer grant research examined the importance of one of the major determinants of auditor liability in cases involving technology, consensus of the technology’s use by other auditors.  He also examined other characteristics unique to the technology: length of use, investment level, and developer. The results of two experiments provide evidence validating consensus as a major determinant of auditor liability and show that investment level and developer can lead to different levels of perceived liability, but that length of use offers little in terms of predicting liability. The study also documented a first-mover disadvantage when it comes to incorporating technology into the audit process.

Professor Tim Eaton worked on a project with Professor Natalie Churyk, AAA Vice President-Education and PWC Professor at Northern Illinois University on a project providing a comprehensive literature review of pedagogical research in the five leading education journals in the last year.  This is particularly important with the recent changes impacting accounting education including the pandemic, the increase of virtual teaching and challenges facing the accounting student supply chain. The goal of this research, which included reviewing dozens of papers, is to provide a resource for faculty to understand the most current innovations in accounting education.