2nd Annual Accounting Research Conference a Success

On June 21-22, the Department hosted its second annual accounting research conference at the Skelton Conference Center. Academics from around the country joined Pamplin faculty and PhD students in discussing leading research in accounting. In all we had 40 attendees who contributed to the exchange of knowledge during the conference. The conference concluded with a beautiful hike to Cascade Falls.

Invited presenters were Roy Schmardebeck from the University of Tennessee; Michelle Nessa from Michigan State University; Jaime Schmidt from the University of Texas at Austin; Emily Griffith from the University of Wisconsin; Fei Du from the University of Illinois; and Brady Williams from the University of Texas at Austin. Virginia Tech faculty discussed papers after the speakers’ presentations and led active question and answer sessions.

The research presented was diverse, reflecting the broad range of important questions accountants investigate today and included analysis of:  The auditor's role in the disclosure of restatements; non-audit services and the reliability of earnings anouncements; competition in the audit market; division of labor between auditors and valuation specialists; the roleof gender in the decision-making speed differential; and international compliance with U.S. tax law.

The charity poker tournament was a new idea for after-dinner entertainment.  It was an opportunity to interact with colleagues from across universities in a fun setting for charity.  We started off with three tables of players.  There were shouts of collusion when the final table consisted of all Virginia Tech faculty and PhD students.  While the three Virginia Tech PhD students claimed to have never played, two of the PhD students made it to the final table!

The final two players going heads up were second year tax professors.  I think this definitely speaks to their conservative strategy.  Matt Erickson was runner-up and his charity was The Blacksburg Interfaith Food Pantry.  Michelle Harding was the final professor standing.  She played for EqualMed, a charity started by the daughter of one of her accounting co-authors that provides medical supplies to underserved communities in the South Pacific.

Overall, it was a really enjoyable event.  It was exciting to observe different strategies from the hyper aggressive to the uber conservative.  It was a fun and rewarding evening of colleagues having a friendly competition for charity.

This year's conference again included the popular hike to Cascade Falls.  The department hopes to continue hosting the conference annually going forward.