Holy Cross Professor Published in International Accounting Journal

WORCESTER, Mass. – Karen Teitel, assistant professor of accounting at the College of the Holy Cross, has received the 2007 JIAR Outstanding Manuscript Award, for her study "The Effects of the Mexican Corporate Governance Code on Quality of Earnings and its Components." Each year, the American Accounting Association International Accounting Section selects one paper published in the Journal of International Accounting Research to receive this award.  The paper, published earlier this year, was co-authored by Susan Machuga, an assistant professor at the University of Hartford.  The award will be presented at the AAA International Accounting Section and IAAER Joint 2008 Midyear Conference in San Diego on February 7-9, 2008.

“My co-author and I are continuing to investigate the changes in earnings quality surrounding the implementation of the Corporate Governance Code in Mexico by examining associations with firm and board of director characteristics such as size, auditor, independence of board members, disclosure of board composition and shared directors,” explains Teitel. “This line of research fits in with my general research agenda of investigating earnings quality in both the international and domestic contexts.”

Teitel’s research found that the Corporate Governance Code resulted in management of Mexican firms reporting higher quality earnings, which helps attract more foreign and local investors and bring more capital into the Mexican economy.

Teitel, a member of the Holy Cross faculty since 2004, earned her Ph.D. and B.B.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and her M.S. from Bentley College. Her teaching interests include external financial reporting by business enterprises, preparation of financial statements and disclosures, and financial reporting policy and regulation. Before coming to Holy Cross, she was an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut School of Business and a senior auditor at Arthur Andersen & Co., L.L.P. She resides in Hopkinton, Mass.

The International Accounting Section of the American Accounting Association seeks to encourage, support, and promote interest in international accounting by providing a venue to discuss international accounting research and to share information about international accounting courses taught throughout the world.