Christine Ann Botosan, Financial Accounting Standards Board
Saturday, January 23, 2021, 12:45 pm – 2:00 pm
FASB Update

Christine Ann Botosan joined the Financial Accounting Standard Board (FASB) on July 1, 2016 and was reappointed to a second term that extends to June 30, 2026. Prior to joining the FASB, she was the Dolores Dore Eccles Presidential Chair in Ethical Financial Reporting at the University of Utah, David Eccles School of Business, where she also served as the Associate Dean of Graduate Affairs. Ms. Botosan was also the 2014/15 President of the American Accounting Association. During her academic career, Christine has been a prolific researcher whose research focused on financial accounting and reporting issues including the impact of disclosure on entities’ cost of capital. Since becoming a member of the FASB, she has continued to work on issues related to the development of a conceptual framework for financial reporting. Christine has been honored with numerous awards for research and teaching excellence including the American Accounting Association Competitive Manuscript Award and the American Accounting Association Notable Contributions to Accounting Literature Award. Christine is a Certified Valuation Analyst and a Chartered Professional Accountant of Canada and she holds a BBA from Wilfrid Laurier University and a PhD from the University of Michigan.

Jack T. Ciesielski, R.G. Associates, Inc.
Friday, January 22, 2021, 12:15 pm -  1:15 pm
Are Accounting Based Valuation Models Still Fit for Purpose?

Jack T. Ciesielski is the owner of R.G. Associates, Inc. an investment research and portfolio management firm located in Baltimore. Mr. Ciesielski published The Analyst’s Accounting Observer, an accounting advisory service for security analysts, for 26 years, ending in June 2018. Mr. Ciesielski has been an active member of accounting-related committees and standard-setting organizations for many years. He served as a member of the FASB’s Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council, (FASAC), and completed a five-year turn as a member of the FASB’s Emerging Issues Task Force. He also served for four years as a member of the FASB’s Investors Technical Advisory Committee. As a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Mr. Ciesielski served on their SEC Regulations Committee. He also served as a member of the AICPA’s Accounting Standards Executive Committee, which issued accounting standards under the direction of the FASB. He is currently a member of the CFA Institute’s Corporate Disclosure Policy Council, which addresses issues affecting the quality of financial reporting and disclosure worldwide.

Shannon Garavaglia, Financial Accounting Standards Board
Saturday, January 23, 2021, 12:45 pm – 2:00 pm
FASB Update

Shannon Garavaglia joined the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) as a Post-Doctoral Fellow in June 2020. At the FASB, Shannon supports the Board by facilitating connections with academic research and the academic community, working as a team member on the goodwill, CECL post-implementation review, and conceptual framework projects, and consulting with other FASB project teams on an ad hoc basis. Prior to starting her fellowship, Shannon graduated with a PhD from The University of Texas at Austin and worked as an auditor with KPMG in the Chicago office. Shannon also graduated from Loyola University Chicago with a bachelor’s degree in accountancy. Following her fellowship at the FASB in the Summer of 2021, Shannon will commence a tenure-track faculty appointment at the University of Pittsburgh.

Scott Richardson, AQR Capital Management
Friday, January 22, 2021, 12:15 pm -  1:15 pm
Are Accounting Based Valuation Models Still Fit for Purpose?

Scott Richardson is a Principal at AQR Capital Management, where he is the Co-Head of Fixed Income and a senior member of the Research and Portfolio Management team. He is also involved with the equity research for the firm’s Global Stock Selection group. Prior to AQR, he was a professor at London Business School, where he still teaches M.B.A. and Ph.D. classes. He has held senior positions at BlackRock (Barclays Global Investors), including head of Europe equity research and head of global credit research, where he oversaw research and investment decisions at BGI for both total return and absolute return products across credit and equity markets. He began his career as an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He is an editor of the Review of Accounting Studies and has published extensively in leading academic and practitioner journals. In 2009 he won the Notable Contribution to Accounting award for his work on earnings quality and accruals. Scott earned a B.Ec. with first-class honors from the University of Sydney and a Ph.D. in business administration from the University of Michigan.

Richard Sloan, University of Southern California
Friday, January 22, 2021, 12:15 pm -  1:15 pm
Are Accounting Based Valuation Models Still Fit for Purpose?

Richard Sloan is a professor of accounting, finance, and business economics at the University of Southern California. He has also served on the faculties of UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. While at the University of Michigan, Professor Sloan was the founding director of the John R. and Georgene M. Tozzi Electronic Business and Finance Center. From 2006 to 2009, Sloan was a managing director in equity research at Barclays Global Investors. Professor Sloan is a pioneer in the field of quantitative investing. He has served as a consultant to numerous firms in the investment management industry and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences. Professor Sloan’s research focuses on the role of accounting information in investment decisions. His research has received numerous awards, including the American Accounting Association’s Seminal Contributions to the Accounting Literature Award (2016), the American Accounting Association’s Distinguished Contributions to the Accounting Literature Award (2010) and the American Accounting Association’s Notable Contributions to the Accounting Literature Award (2001, 2009). He is the coauthor (with Russell Lundholm) of Equity Valuation and Analysis, now in its fifth edition.  He is also an editor of the Review of Accounting Studies and an associate editor of the Journal of Financial Economics.  Professor Sloan holds a PhD in Accounting and Finance from the University of Rochester and a BCom(Hons) from the University of Western Australia.