Robert (Bob) Libby

Robert (Bob) Libby is the David A. Thomas Professor of Management and former Accounting Area Chair in the SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University. He previously was a faculty member of the University of Michigan, the University of Chicago, and The Pennsylvania State University. He had visiting positions at Nanyang Technological University, University of Maastricht, The University of Texas at Austin, University of New South Wales, and Yale University.

When accounting researchers and PhD students throughout the world hear the name Bob Libby, they think of “Libby Boxes,” a predictive-validity framework introduced to the accounting literature in his first book, Accounting and Human Information Processing: Theory and Application. The preface to the book describes it as written “to bridge the gap between the basic theory of decision making and its application to accounting.” That goal, articulated in 1981, captures the essence of Libby’s research for over fifty years.

Since earning his PhD in accounting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1974, Libby has led the use of experimental research methods to address behavioral topics in financial accounting and auditing. He has published over sixty articles in prestigious academic journals, co-authored six books (including popular undergraduate accounting texts), chaired eighteen PhD committees, served as a distinguished faculty member at eight American Accounting Association/Deloitte/J. Michael Cook Doctoral Consortiums, and spoken at university workshops in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. He has served as Editor of The Accounting Review and on the editorial boards of The Accounting Review (multiple times); Accounting, Organizations, and Society; Journal of Behavioral Decision Making; Journal of Accounting Research; and Journal of Accounting Literature. His work has been recognized with two AAA/AICPA Notable Contributions to Accounting Literature Awards, and his many contributions have been recognized with the AAA’s Outstanding Accounting Educator and Outstanding Service Awards.

Libby also has served as an institution-builder in important ways. In 2009, consistent with his commitment to strengthening the bonds of academics with accounting/auditing practitioners and regulators, he became a founding academic member of the Research Advisory Board (RAB) of the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ). During his tenure on the RAB, Libby worked with practitioners to identify grant proposals likely to result in insights relevant to the accounting/auditing profession as well as scholarly publications. Similarly, as the AAA’s VP of Publications and work on Intellectual Property Task Forces, he was instrumental in obtaining ongoing support for accounting research and the AAA that continues to this day.

Robert Libby is the 118th inductee to The Accounting Hall of Fame.