Richard H. Willis

Anne Marie and Thomas B. Walker, Jr., Associate Professor of Accounting

Subject Area(s): Accounting and Taxation

Richard Willis has extensive experience in the accounting profession as a corporate accountant and market research analyst, as well as a distinguished body of academic research in such publications as the Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Review of Accounting Studies, and The Accounting Review. Among his current research interests are the effect of security analysts' earnings forecasts on analysts' performance evaluation, the determinants of persistence in analysts' stock picking ability, and the effect of investor sophistication in interpreting analysts' stock recommendations.

Prior to joining Owen, Willis was associate professor of accounting at the Freeman School of Business at Tulane University, and has also held teaching positions at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He has been frequently recognized for excellence in teaching, both in the United States and abroad, including the Daimler-Chrysler Award from the Fuqua School of Business.

Prior to his academic career, Willis worked for Coopers & Lybrand, LLP, where he developed materials pertaining to accounting for stock-based compensation, which were distributed nationally. He also worked as a marketing research analyst for both Warner-Lambert Company (later acquired by Pfizer) and E. & J. Gallo Winery. Willis serves on the editorial board of The Accounting Review.

Education:
B.S., Mathematics, University of South Alabama, 1983
M.A.S., Applied Statistics, The Ohio State University, 1984
M.B.A., Duke University, 1992
Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1998

Research Interest(s):
Security analysts, firm disclosure

Area(s) of Expertise:
Accounting, earnings forecasts, stock recommendations, security analysts