University of Southern California

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Kenneth Merchant
Deloitte & Touche LLP Chair in Accountancy and Professor of Accounting

USC Marshall School of Business
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0808

Phone: 
213-821-5920
kmerchant@marshall.usc.edu
Education: 
PhD, UC-Berkeley; MBA, Columbia University; BA, Union College

Overview

Kenneth Merchant is an expert in management accounting, management control systems, and corporate governance. He has published in many journals, including Accounting, Organizations and Society, The Accounting Review, Industrial Relations, Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Marketing, and Management Science. He has received numerous awards, including three Notable Contributions to Research awards from the American Accounting Association, one for lifetime contributions to the field. He also received an honorary doctorate from the Turku School of Economics (Finland) in 2010. Professor Merchant served as Dean of the Leventhal School of Accounting from 1994 to 2001. Before joining USC, he taught at Harvard Business School and UC-Berkeley.

Research

CEO Renown and Its Impact on CEO Pay • 2012
Making Management Accounting Research More Useful • 2012
Management Control Systems: Performance Measurement, Evaluation and Incentives • 2012
Performance Measurement and Incentive Compensation: An Empirical Analysis of Chinese and Western Firms' Practices • 2011
On Testing Business Models. The Accounting Review 86 (5) • 2011
Putting Business Models under the Microscope. Financial Management. July/August Issue • 2011
Performance Measurement and Incentive Compensation: An Empirical Analysis of Chinnese and Western Firms' Practices • 2011
Accounting: Text and Cases • 2011
Relationships between Performance Evaluation Elements • 2010
Blindspots, Biases and Other Pathologies in the Boardroom • 2010
Setting Performance Targets in Recession Times: Survey Evidence on the Discontinuity in the Distribution of Earnings Targets • 2010
Strategy Mapping: An Interventionist Examination of a Homebuilder's Performance Measurement and Incentive Systems • 2010
Employment Horizon and the Choice of Performance Measures: Empirical Evidence from Annual Bonus Plans of Loss-Making Entities • 2009
Technical Matters: Customer Satisfaction (Which Customer Satisfaction Measures Best Predict Future Success (or Failure)? • 2009
Performance Measure Properties and Incentive System Design • 2009
National Differences in Performance-Dependent Compensation Practices: The Differing Roles of Performance Measurement in the United States and the Netherlands • 2009
Why Interdisciplinary Accounting Research Tends Not to Impact Most North American Academic Accountants • 2008
review of A. Bhimani (ed.), Contemporary Issues in Management Accounting (Oxford University Press, 2006) • 2008
Tsinghua Tongfang Co. Performance Evaluation and Incentive Systems Case • 2007
Evaluating General Managers' Performances • 2007
Pacific Sunwear of California, Inc. • 2007
Controls at the Bellagio Casino Resort • 2007
Global Investors. Teaching Case in Management Control Systems: Performance Measurement, Evaluation and Incentives. Second Edition. • 2007
Global Investors. Teaching Note in Management Control Systems: Performance Measurement, Evaluation and Incentives. Second Edition. • 2007
Golden Parachutes? • 2007
Kooistra Autogroep • 2007
Philip Anderson • 2007
The Expiring Software License • 2007
The Platinum Pointe Land Deal • 2007
Management Control Systems: Performance Measurement, Evaluation and Incentives • 2007
Accounting: Text and Cases • 2007
Controller Involvement in Management: An Empirical Study in Large Italian Corporations • 2007
A Review of the Literature on Control & Accountability • 2006
Measuring General Managers' Performances: Market, Accounting and Combination-of-Measures Systems • 2006
Case Study: Real-World Problems Tackled • 2006
Principles to Guide the Development and Use of Effective Performance Measures • 2006
Field-Based Research in Accounting: Accomplishments and Prospects • 2006
A Closer Look: Is Customer Satisfaction a Reliable Predictor of Future Financial Performance? • 2005
The Benefits of Evaluating Performance Subjectively • 2005
Target Costing and Incentive Compensation: Contrasting Chinese and Japanese Systems • 2005
Bonus Plan • 2004
Determinants and Effects of Subjectivity in Incentives • 2004
Berkshire Industries PLC • 2004
Beifang Chuang Ye Vehicle Group Employee Compensation • 2003
Disciplinary Constraints on the Advancement of Knowledge: The Case of Organizational Incentive Systems • 2003
Management Control Systems: Performance Measurement Evaluation and Incentives • 2003
Control of International Joint Ventures • 2000
Ethical Issues Related to 'Results-Oriented' Management Control Systems • 2000
Teaching and Writing Cases • 1999
Modern Management Control Systems: Text and Cases • 1998
The Use of Organizational Controls and Their Effects on Data Manipulation and Management Myopia: A U.S. vs. Japan Comparison • 1996
Measurement, Evaluation and Reward of Profit Center Managers: A Cross-cultural Field Study • 1995
The Ethics of Managing Earnings: An Empirical Investigation • 1994
Don Russell (A), Don Russell (B), and Teaching Notes • 1994
review of Financial Shenanigans: How to Detect Accounting Gimmicks & Fraud in Financial Reports • 1993
When and Why to Measure Costs Less Accurately to Improve Decision Making • 1993
review of Corporate Governance and Directors' Responsibilities for Financial Statments • 1993
Field Research in Management Accounting and Control: A Review and Evaluation • 1992
The Evolution of Performance-Based Management Incentives at the Fiat Group • 1992
How Challenging Should Profit Budget Targets Be? • 1990
The Budgetary and Performance Influences of Product Standardization and Manufacturing Process Automation • 1990
The Dangerous Morality of Managing Earnings • 1990
Accounting for Management Control • 1990
Performance-Based Management Incentives at the Fiat Group: A Field Study • 1990
Readings in Accounting for Management Control • 1990
The Effects of Financial Controls on Data Manipulation and Management Myopia • 1990
Instructional Case: Bedlington Federal Savings • 1989
The Achievability of Budget Targets in Profit Centers: A Field Study • 1989
Rewarding Results: Motivating Profit Center Managers • 1989
Progressing Toward a Theory of Marketing Control: A Comment • 1988
The Behavioral Dimensions of Internal Control • 1988
Plugging the Breach in Corporate Ethics • 1987
Exposure to Fraudulent Financial Reporting • 1987
Handbook of Management Control Systems • 1987
Fraudulent and Questionable Financial Reporting: A Corporate Perspective • 1987
How and Why Firms Disregard the Controllability Principle • 1987
How to Deal with Fraudulent Financial Reporting • 1987
Measurements to Cure Management Myopia • 1986
Research on Control in Complex Organizations: An Overview • 1986
Budgeting and the Prospensity to Create Budgetary Slack • 1985
Control in Business Organizations • 1985
Organizational Controls and Discretionary Program Decision Making: A Field Study • 1985
Performance Measurement and Control Issues in Small Businesses • 1985
Enciclopedia de Direccion y Administracion de la Empresa • 1984
Influences on Departmental Budgeting: An Empirical Examination of a Contingency Model • 1984
The Control Function of Management • 1982
The Design of the Corporate Budgeting System: Influences on Managerial Behavior Performance • 1981
Accounting Aggregation: User Preferences and Decision Making • 1979