Patricia Dechow
Citation
Patricia Mary Dechow has played an important role in research investigating the quality of reported earnings, firm valuation and misstatements of financial statements, thereby providing an important interface between accounting academia and accounting in practice. Patricia Dechow was educated in Perth where she earned a first-class Honours degree in Commerce from the University of Western Australia in 1986. She subsequently pursued graduate studies in the United States, completing an M.S. and Ph.D. at the University of Rochester in 1993. Patricia is presently the Robert R. Dockson Professor of Business Administration & Professor of Accounting at the University of Southern California, having previously held appointments at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania. She also holds positions as a research fellow at the Centre for Financial Reporting & Accountability at the Judge School of Business, Cambridge University. Prior to her academic appointments, Patricia worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Perth and at the University of Western Australia. Patricia’s highly acclaimed research has focused on accounting accruals, the quality and reliability of earnings, the use of earnings information in predicting stock returns, and the effect of analysts' forecasts on investors’ perceptions of firm value. She has also developed measures that evaluate the likelihood of financial statement manipulation. Patricia first published in the Australian Journal of Management in 1987 and her subsequent publication record includes over 30 articles in The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Financial Economics and Review of Accounting Studies, together with publications for the Chartered Financial Analysts Institute. Patricia Dechow was awarded the American Accounting Association’s Seminal Contribution to Accounting Literature Award in 2019 and the award of Distinguished Contribution to Accounting Literature Award in 2010 and 2015. Professor Dechow is presently Managing Editor of Review of Accounting Studies and has previously held the role of Editor at The Accounting Review, Accounting Horizons and Management Science. With teaching interests in financial accounting and reporting, Patricia has a distinguished record of engagement with undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students and executive education. She has supervised over 30 doctoral students, many of whom have gone on to successful careers in academia and industry. Patricia was awarded the American Accounting Association’s Financial Accounting Research Section Distinguished PhD Mentoring Award in 2020. Patricia has also participated as a Faculty Member in Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand doctoral colloquia and has also served on the editorial board of Accounting and Finance. Patricia chaired the Research Relevance Task Force for the American Accounting Association (2017-2018) which reported on steps to improve the relevance of research. Patricia has served on numerous committees at the American Accounting Association and is currently a member of the board of Responsible Research in Business and Management a global network of academics from all business disciplines that have the common objective of enhancing the relevance of business research that addresses pressing issues facing society today.