A research paper by David Folsom, Ph.D., assistant professor of accounting, recently was published online by Management Science, one of the country’s top scholarly journals in the practice of business management.
Folsom, the primary investigator of “Principles-Based Standards and Earnings Attributes,” said his paper was accepted by the journal in 2016, and should be published in the print edition during summer 2017. It was his first paper accepted by that publication.
“It’s a tough journal to get into,” said Folsom, who joined the University in fall 2016. “It’s a nice feather in my cap and the University’s. It provides visibility and increases UTEP’s research profile.”
The professor’s research found that financial reports that are more reliant on principles-based accounting provided better information to investors on average, but when incentivized, the information may be misreported. He said his work already has been cited in other publications.
He started his study of principles-based versus rules-based accounting as a doctoral student seven years ago at the University of Iowa and continued his research as an assistant professor at Lehigh University. He was intrigued by a Securities and Exchange Commission request after the financial crisis in 2008 for research into how different types of accounting standards impact investor behavior. He continues to expand on that research into the auditing field.