Academics honored for achievements in education and accounting literature

The AICPA recognized four academics for their teaching and research during the annual American Accounting Association (AAA) meeting.

Tonya K. Flesher, professor of accountancy and Arthur Andersen Lecturer Emerita at the University of Mississippi, received the 2020 AICPA Distinguished Achievement in Accounting Education Award, which honors full-time college accounting educators who excel in teaching and have achieved national prominence in the accounting profession. Flesher taught thousands of students during her 38-year career, in which she specialized in tax research and policy, and she was the first female dean of the University of Mississippi. She retired from teaching in 2017 but remains active in accounting research. She was an active contributor to the accounting profession, serving on several AICPA and AAA committees.

Mary E. Barth (Stanford University), Wayne R. Landsman (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), and Daniel J. Taylor (University of Pennsylvania) received the Notable Contributions to Accounting Literature Award, which is given annually to academic research that has withstood a rigorous process of screening and scrutiny based on originality, breadth of potential interest, soundness of methodology, and potential impact on accounting education. Their research paper, “The JOBS Act and Information Uncertainty in IPO Firms,” published in The Accounting Review, examines how the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act created a new category of companies exempt from the mandatory disclosure requirements of traditional companies during an IPO and how that lack of information affects IPO pricing.