Leventhal School of Accounting Faculty

Welcome to the Elaine and Kenneth Leventhal School of Accounting Faculty Page.

Accounting has long been referred to as the “language of business” and it continues to serve that vital role for our global society. Our profession has, for centuries, been at the forefront of providing decision makers with essential relevant and reliable information as a basis for a wide range of resource allocation activities. Historically, accounting measures of financial performance have served society well and now our profession has embarked on developing and reporting performance information for a host of other activities including ESG (environmental, social and governance) data.

As part of providing a state-of-the-art comprehensive accounting education, our school provides excellence in each of the major domains of accountancy:financial reporting, managerial accounting, auditing, taxation and technology systems and controls.

Our faculty conduct impactful research in each of these domains, providing information that is of great relevance to the continued progress of our society in an increasingly complex and interrelated world. We do so by pushing the boundaries of knowledge and by enhancing our understanding of the manner in which decision making takes place.The resulting research contributions inform those who rely on accounting information, including current and prospective investors, creditors, and regulatory, policy and standard setting organizations.

I invite you to learn more about our individual faculty members and to explore their research and tremendous academic and professional achievements on this page and their linked individual sections below.

— Bill Holder, Dean and Alan Casden Dean’s Chair of Accountancy

FULL-TIME FACULTY

Anthony V. Aaron
- Professor of the Practice of Accounting
Tony Aaron is currently serving as a Professor in the Leventhal School of Accounting at the University of Southern California. Professor Aaron has also been appointed as Director of the USC SEC and Financial Reporting Institute
Jack J Barcal
- Associate Professor of Accounting
Jack Barcal is an expert in taxation, estate planning, probate, trusts, estates and wills, and tax law. He has published in The Journal of Taxation and Estate Planning among other journals.
Randolph Paul Beatty
- Professor of Accounting
Professor Beatty's scholarship spans accounting, finance, and management, with articles published in The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Contemporary Accounting Research, Accounting Horizons, Journal of Law & Economics, Journal of Financial Economics, Administrative Science Quarterly, and Strategic Management Journal.
Sarah Elizabeth Bonner
- Ernst & Young Professor of Accounting
- Professor of Accounting
Sarah Bonner is a leader in the study of judgment and decision making. Her book, Judgment and Decision Making in Accounting (2008) develops a framework that synthesizes research in psychology and economics.

Part-Time + Adjunct

Paul Bader
- Adjunct Professor of Accounting
Adjunct Professor Paul Bader was formerly a partner in the New York office of EY. He had several roles at EY over the course of his career including Partner in Charge of the NY International Tax Practice, Managing Partner of the NY Tax Practice, Managing Partner of Metro NY area, Vice Chair of the Americas M&A practice, Americas Private Equity practice and the Americas Director of Strategy.
David Boschetto
- Adjunct Professor of Accounting
David Boschetto retired from the Internal Revenue Service in October 2016 after 31 years of service. His last position with the IRS was that of Subject Matter Expert in the Methods of Accounting & Timing Practice Network in the Large Business & International (LB&I) Division.
Ward Ching
- Adjunct Professor of Accounting
Diane Marie Comi
- Adjunct Professor of Accounting
Diane Comi began her legal career in the Tax Department of PriceWaterhouse Coopers in Los Angeles and then transferred to PwC’s Boston office to pursue an LL.M. (Taxation) at Boston University School of Law.

EMERITI

Jerry Louis Arnold
- Professor Emeritus of Accounting
Jerry Arnold's research focuses on SEC disclosure and accounting standard-setting. He has published articles in numerous journals including Harvard Business Review, the Journal of Accountancy, Research in Accounting Regulation, The Corporation Law Review, Management Accounting, Journal of Commercial Bank Lending, and the Journal of the American Taxation Association.
Merle W Hopkins
- Emeritus Professor of Clinical Accounting
Merle Hopkins conducts research on support for the hypothesized importance of expected cash flows to firms, and has published in The Corporation Law Review. Professor Hopkins served as Assistant Dean in the Leventhal School of Accounting, and is actively and extensively involved with several on-going programs conducted by the USC Office of Executive Development. Former clients include Amgen, Security Pacific Bank, Union Bank among others. He has consulted for a variety of organizations, including the Security Pacific National Bank and Union Bank in Los Angeles.
Joseph Keller
- Professor Emeritus of Clinical Accounting
Joseph Keller is an expert on accounting in the financial services, manufacturing and real estate industries. He has published articles for the National Association for Real Estate Investment Trusts.
E. Jack J. Larsen
- Professor Emeritus of Accounting

RESEARCH + PUBLICATIONS

The Leventhal School is home to many of the leading accounting scholars in the country. They conduct rigorous and relevant research that moves the discipline forward.

Abstract

Public accounting firms are owned by all equity partners, but day-to-day management is generally delegated to a team of leaders. Using data from China, this study examines which equity partners are selected to the firm’s national leadership team, and whether firmwide audit quality is related to leadership attributes. We find that a partner is more likely to be selected as a leader if the partner is more experienced in public company auditing and has attracted more new clients to the firm. Firmwide audit quality is higher when leaders are more experienced in public company audits or have a past record of larger audit adjustments, and is lower when leaders have attracted more high-risk new clients to the firm. Leadership attributes exhibit a relatively strong(weak) association with audit quality at the headquarters (branch offices). Moreover, audit quality is higher when a firm has more leaders in an audit-quality role.

Author[s]

Clive Lennox

Xi Wu

Chunfei Wang

Publication

Journal of Accounting and Economics, 75(1)

Publication Date

12.31.2022
Abstract

The past 25 years have seen an exponential growth in the number of China studies in the leading accounting journals. The rise in China-related research mirrors the country’s increased importance on the global stage and a growing appreciation of the economic importance of Chinese institutions. We organize our review of the China literature around three central themes:1) political and regulatory institutions, 2) China’s relationships with foreign investors, and 3) the availability of novel data and regulatory shocks. The former two themes address research questions that are more China-centric, while the third exploits the China setting to examine questions that are more universal. We highlight the contributions that China studies have made to the broader accounting literature, the limitations of the current literature, and we offer suggestions for future research directions.

Author[s]

Clive Lennox

Joanna Wu

Publication

Journal of Accounting and Economics, 74(2-3)

Publication Date

12.31.2022
Abstract

This report, co-authored by the USC Risk Management Program and Deloitte & Touche LLP, analyzed the risk factor disclosures of 439 S&P 500 companies to identify trends during the second year of implementation. Our analysis confirmed our previous two reports that risk factor disclosures were becoming lengthier. The report also analyzed stand-alone climate-related risk factors companies disclosed for the first time this reporting season, noting a significant increase in these disclosures.

Author[s]

Kristen Jaconi

Publication Date

12.01.2022

GO TO PAPER
Abstract

Author[s]

Daniel Edmund O'Leary

Publication

ICIS - International Conference on Information Systems

Publication Date

11.10.2022
Abstract

Author[s]

Guido Geerts

Daniel Edmund O'Leary

Publication Date

10.01.2022

FACULTY POSITIONS

See openings and apply HERE.