Foster ranked #5 in the world for financial accounting research

According to the annual index of accounting research compiled by Brigham Young University, the UW Foster School of Business ranks #5 in the world in research contributions to the field of financial accounting over the past six years.

The comprehensive database ranks accounting departments by topical area based on the number of articles their faculty have published in the most influential journals over periods of 6, 12 and 29 years (since the ranking began in 1990). Topical areas include information systems, auditing, managerial accounting, tax accounting and financial accounting. Financial accounting is the area of study pursued by the largest number of accounting researchers.

Foster’s Department of Accounting is also ranked #15 in the world for overall research contributions—over each of the three time periods. And Foster stands at #25 in managerial accounting research over the past six years.

Individual excellence

The BYU index also tracks the contributions of individual researchers over three different time periods and in five different topical areas.

Five current Foster School faculty members stand among the 200 most productive in the area of financial accounting since 1990:

Sarah McVay (#55)
Frank Hodge (#77)
Dawn Matsumoto (#77)
Weili Ge (#149)
Dave Burgstahler (#173)

Four Foster faculty members are listed among the financial accounting top 100 over the past 12 years:

Sarah McVay (#14)
Frank Hodge (#48)
Weili Ge (#61)
Dawn Matsumoto (#89)

And five Foster faculty members are listed among the top 150 financial accounting researchers over the past six years:

Ed deHaan (#30)
Frank Hodge (#51)
Elizabeth Blankespoor (#84)
Asher Curtis (#84)
Sarah McVay (#84)
Peter Demerjian (#142)

Multiplier effect

Beyond the direct research impact of current Foster accounting faculty, the Department of Accounting has also educated a significant number of doctoral students who have become major producers of influential scholarship from their faculty posts at universities around the world.

Foster ranks #3 in the world for the overall research record of its accounting PhD graduates over the past six years, and #4 for alumni output since 1990.

In individual topic areas (measured since 1990), Foster grads rate #2 in financial accounting research, #5 in tax accounting research, and #9 in managerial accounting research.

The BYU index considers research in 11 journals. Six of them—Accounting, Organizations, and Society; Contemporary Accounting Research; Journal of Accounting & Economics; Journal of Accounting Research; Review of Accounting Studies; and The Accounting Review—are considered the most-influential peer-reviewed journals in the discipline of accounting. The other five—Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory; Behavioral Research in Accounting; Journal of Information Systems; Journal of Management Accounting Research; Accounting Horizons; and Journal of the American Taxation Association—are deemed the highest-rated accounting journals for non-financial topical areas.