, ’07
I taught Seminar in Financial Accounting (ACCT 803) and Business Valuation & Financial Statement Analysis (ACCT 808) in the fall. My current research projects seek to provide insights into the costs and benefits of several accounting regulatory initiatives. I published a top journal article: “Disincentives to Exchange Customized Local GAAP for IFRS” in Journal of Accounting and Public Policy. I currently have one project submitted to an elite journal and another is under second-round revise and resubmit at a top journal. I am polishing three articles to be submitted to elite journals by June 2023. I was an invited speaker on a panel session and served as a breakout session leader at the 2023 American Accounting Association FARS Midyear Meeting. I have been invited as a speaker on an upcoming panel session for the 2023 American Accounting Association Annual Meeting. I was promoted to associate professor and granted tenure, effective August 1. In addition, I have been appointed to the editorial board of one of our elite journals, The Accounting Review, effective June 2023. I continue to serve on the board of Lincoln Literacy Center and now also serve on the board of Clinic with a Heart.
Arthur Allen, associate professor of accountancy
I taught Intermediate Accounting I (ACCT 313) and Advanced Accounting (ACCT 804). Both classes incorporate research into the FASB standards and writing reports. My recent publications were in the Journal of Government and Nonprofit Accounting, Financial Accountability and Management as well as a book chapter in Research Handbook on Nonprofit Accounting. My current research interests include the factors influencing audit fees in private foundations and apparent misreporting in charitable organizations.
Dirk Black, Forvis Professor of Accounting and associate professor of accounting
I very much enjoyed teaching students in Accounting and Data Analytics (ACCT 850) in the MPA Program during the fall and spring semesters. This academic year marked my first time teaching this course, and I enjoyed learning new skills in data analytics with the students. A discussion piece I prepared for Advances in Accounting was recently accepted, and I have an article in the late stages of the review process at Contemporary Accounting Research. Moreover, I was awarded an Advances in Accounting Research Conference Discussant award. I presented a working paper on ESG investment and disclosure at the American Accounting Association’s (AAA) Sustainability, ESG and Accounting Conference in Washington, D.C. I currently serve on the editorial boards of The Accounting Review, the Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, the Journal of Management Accounting Research and Advances in Accounting. I also served as a member of the AAA Competitive Manuscript Award Screening Committee and the Financial Accounting and Reporting Section (FARS) Midyear Meeting Best Paper Award Committee.
Debra Cosgrove, professor of practice in accountancy, ’88 & ’89
The 2022-23 year has been excellent! Students in my Accounting Information Systems (ACCT 309) classes have been very inquisitive and engaged. Class time seems to fly by. For the second year in a row, the Deloitte Audit Innovation Campus Challenge team I advise placed in the top 12 in the nation and will compete in the national competition at Deloitte University in late April. By the time you read this, our team will already have won — the power of positive thinking! I am also the advisor for Beta Alpha Psi. Our chapter is still recovering from the COVID disruption, but we are on track to again earn superior status. One of our best practices competition teams won first place at the mid-year meeting in Seattle and will compete at our annual meeting in August in Las Vegas. The officer group was outstanding. They really worked as a team, were very proactive, and brought a lot of energy to the group. In March, we elected a new slate of officers, and I am very excited to welcome a new team.
Stuart Dearden, assistant professor of accountancy
I have been teaching Auditing (ACCT 410) and the Seminar in Auditing (ACCT 831) at Nebraska since 2018. Before academia, I enjoyed many busy seasons as an auditor for KPMG, auditing clients in a variety of industries, sizes and regulatory environments. My research focuses on audit quality, auditor bias and audit-office issues. I’ve had research published in Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory. Some of my current research examines how auditors can use machine learning to predict anomalous events and how related party transactions affect auditor going concern opinions.
Amanda Gonzales, associate professor of practice in accountancy, ’03
I continue to enjoy teaching Research and Communication in Accounting (ACCT 455), an innovative course that helps our students gain confidence and be prepared to thrive in a variety of communication related contexts. I have also been delighted to introduce the world of accounting to the Nebraska Business Honors Academy students through Introductory Accounting I (ACCT 201H). I am looking forward to sharing my research on helping students work effectively in team projects at a national teaching conference this summer in New Orleans.
Ling Lin Harris, assistant professor of accountancy
In 2022, I taught Financial Accounting (GRBA 809) for our MBA@Nebraska program. I have also been working on multiple research projects to understand individuals’ judgments and decisions and presented a paper at the 2022 American Accounting Association’s annual conference. I also served on the Workshop Committee and the Undergraduate Grade Appeals Committee for the school and the Inclusive Excellence Advisory Board and the General Committee for the college. I have also been engaging in student research by serving as a dissertation committee member and a graduate research advisor. For professional outreach, I served as a reviewer or a discussant for the American Accounting Association’s meetings and as a reviewer at an accounting journal.
Steven Hegemann, associate professor of practice in accountancy, ’97 & ’99
I have been teaching Introductory Accounting I (ACCT 201) for the last few years. This is the first experience most students have with accounting. I leverage my experience — growing up in small town Nebraska, entering the University of Nebraska–Lincoln as a non-traditional student after serving in the Army, completing my BSBA and MPA at Nebraska, and working as an auditor and forensic accounting consultant in New York City for over 15 years — to challenge students’ perceptions about what an accountant is and does. This year, I was nominated for the college’s Excellence in Teaching Award.
Tony Kang, Deloitte Haskins and Sells Chair and associate professor of accountancy
This past year, I taught ACCT 808 Business Valuation and Financial Statement Analysis and GRBA 809 Financial Accounting to MPA and MBA students. In addition, I participated in and presented at several academic conferences in the U.S. and Europe. I am currently working on research projects on financial statement audits and the role of the internet and corporate international diversification in financial reporting.
Tom Kubick, Ellsworth L. Fulk Chair and professor of accountancy, ’05, ’08 & ’11
During the past year, I was promoted to the rank of professor. I taught Federal Tax Accounting (ACCT 312) to undergraduates and Corporate Tax Accounting (ACCT 413/813) to students in the Master of Professional Accountancy program. I continue to research topics in the areas of financial accounting, incentives, governance, and taxation, and I have several papers that are progressing through the review process. During the past year, my papers have appeared or have been accepted for publication in The Accounting Review and Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory. I also co-author an undergraduate tax textbook “Principles of Taxation for Business and Investment Planning,” and I serve on the editorial boards of Contemporary Accounting Research, Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, and Journal of International Accounting Research.
Kathryn Maresh, assistant professor of practice in accountancy, ’85
I continue to enjoy teaching Federal Tax Accounting (ACCT 312), Tax Research and Planning (ACCT 815), Partnership Tax (ACCT 819), and Ethics and Accounting (ACCT 407/807). The level of student engagement and class discussion was fantastic this year! I am able to bring my public accounting experience into the classroom to connect course concepts to practical application through the use of research and return projects based on “real-world” experiences. Outside of the classroom, I serve as the SoA accounting internship director and the university representative on the Nebraska State Board of Public Accountancy Education Advisory Committee. We continue to grow the internship program and had a record 61 undergraduate students participating in internships this spring, and they indicate that these internships are a valuable learning experience for them. I am also the faculty advisor for the UNL Deloitte FanTAXtic competition team. This year I was honored to receive the CoB Career Center 2022 Sue Vagts Faculty Partner of the Year Award and the Nebraska Society of Certified Public Accountants 2022 Outstanding Accounting Educator Award. I appreciate the support from firms and businesses with developing class projects, internship programs and student activities!
Samuel Melessa, assistant professor of accountancy
This year I am teaching Intermediate Accounting I (ACCT 313) to junior-level accounting and finance students. I have a great group of students and enjoyed working on integrating more critical thinking into the course through case assignments and class discussion. On the research front, my co-authors and I recently published a study in the Journal of Accounting Research that demonstrates a common error made in many empirical accounting studies that biases conclusions. Our study demonstrates the issue and provides solutions researchers can implement to improve their inferences.
Jina Morris, associate professor of practice in accountancy and Master of Professional Accountancy coordinator, ’94 & ’98
I am enjoying keeping busy with all the bright and ambitious Introductory Accounting (ACCT 202) students. It is fun to watch them navigate through their undergraduate degree and into the MPA program. We are making some great changes to the program, which include eight-week courses and a new CPA exam review course, partnering with Becker CPA Review. We are hopeful this new course will help students get a head start on their CPA exams and encourage more students towards the MPA program.
Kelli Saunders, assistant professor of accountancy
I continue to teach both undergraduate Auditing (ACCT 410) and Seminar in Auditing (ACCT 831) in the fall semester. In 2022, we focused on implementing comprehensive cases with practical relevance in both courses, which was accomplished in part through the continued support we enjoy from our outstanding community of SoA supporters.
Todd Thornock, associate professor of accountancy
I teach Managerial Accounting (ACCT 308) and the Seminar in Managerial Accounting (ACCT 858) to the MPA students. The latter course is a new offering where we focus on practice and academic views of management control systems. I enjoy helping students discover meaningful connections between class and real life — accounting touches so many areas! This past year my research was published in the Accounting, Organizations and Society, Accounting Horizons and the Journal of Management Accounting Research. I also participated in a project recently published in Issues in Accounting Education examining how the AI chatbot ChatGPT performs in accounting assessments. I was promoted to associate professor and granted tenure, effective August 1. My work with amazing colleagues on various additional projects continues to make excellent progress. Also, I continue to serve in a leadership role for the Management Accounting Section, helping plan our research conferences.
Jill Trucke, associate professor of practice in accountancy
I believe a basic understanding of accounting is important for all college students and an accounting degree provides a wealth of career opportunities for our students. I am able to express the importance of accounting through the classes I teach and the recruiting events I led this past year. I taught Intermediate II (ACCT 314), Using Accounting Information (ACCT 301) for non-accounting majors, Accounting for Business Decisions (ACCT 200) to business minors, and an accounting course for the Raikes School of Computer Science and Management (RAIK 181H). I enjoy the challenge of making accounting relevant to each group of students. I have also been engaged in finding ways to recruit more students to the accounting major. The SoA is participating in middle school and high school events hosted by the college and our Discover Accounting Pre-College Program continues to grow. I appreciate the support the SoA receives from the accounting community as we all see the importance of growing the profession. A new role I accepted this year was to chair the Scholarship, Honors and Awards committee for the CoB. One responsibility of this committee is to select the faculty and staff awards for teaching and service. More than 60 CoB faculty or staff were nominated for a variety of awards and many of our accounting faculty were nominated. It was a joy to read over all the CoB nominations and hear the impact our faculty are making on our students.
Biyu Wu, associate professor of accountancy
I teach Managerial Accounting (ACCT 308) and Intermediate Accounting I (ACCT 313). My current research focuses on factors related to the valuation and disclosures of initial public offering (IPO) firms, earnings quality, and the role of financial intermediaries (e.g., auditors, IPO underwriters) in capital markets. In the past year, my research papers have appeared or have been accepted for publication in Management Science and Review of Accounting Studies. I was promoted to associate professor and granted tenure, effective August 1. I presented my research at the American Accounting Association (AAA) Annual Meeting and attended the AAA mid-year meeting, PCAOB Conference on Auditing and Capital Markets, and Center for Audit Quality Symposium, among others. I also served as a reviewer for several journals and conferences.