The Badger Account Year in Review 2022-2023

Building on Past Success in Pursuit of a Brighter Future

AIS THE BADGER ACCOUNT

Back Together Again … And It Felt So Good!

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Collaboration Within the Wisconsin School of Business

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2022 Distinguished Accounting Alumnus Award winner, James Henderson

Building on Past Success in Pursuit of a Brighter Future

Welcome to the 2023 edition of The Badger Account! As I reflect on my first year as department chair, I cannot help but be proud of all we accomplished. As we regained our rhythm of being fully back in person, we knew we needed to hit the ground running to accomplish all we had set out to achieve.

We bid a “happy retirement” to previous department chair Mark Covaleski and academic program manager Michele Parker, so it was mission critical to regain our administrative structure. After stepping into the chair role, I elevated Kristen Fuhremann into a deputy

department chair role to assist in creating and acting on our agenda for the year. Next, we hired Nhia Vang into the academic program manager role and Katharine Widlak into the director of professional programs role vacated by Kristen.

With our administrative team back up to full strength, we outlined some key priorities for the year, which included a full assessment of the CPA evolution initiative and what, if anything, that meant for our curriculum. Beyond our program offerings and curriculum initiatives, recognizing the outstanding performance of the members of our department was imperative. As

we looked forward, it was important to re-engage our wonderful advisory board. So—we got to work!

By leveraging dedicated faculty and staff across various operational committees, we completed a full undergraduate and graduate curriculum review that resulted in modifications to our undergraduate coursework and a new Master of Science in Accounting and Business Analysis graduate program. We engaged in a competitive recruiting process and hired new assistant professor Ewelina Forker from Emory University. We saw Fabio Gaertner be promoted to full professor and three lecturers (Ann O’Brien, Joe Boucher, and Rob Misey) earn the new title of teaching professor.

We celebrated throughout the year, because we had a lot to celebrate! We gathered in person for the first time in three years for our annual awards banquet, recognizing our Distinguished Alumnus, James Henderson (BBA ’83, MS ’84). We celebrated our wonderful donors who support our students through scholarship and our program through funding research and program initiatives. We celebrated our phenomenal doctoral program, which saw three graduates secure tenure-track positions, three former students recognized for their outstanding dissertations, and one current student earn the first-ever FASB Emerging Scholar Award. We spent time with our advisory board, sharing our vision and seeking their feedback. We knew this particular board was ready to engage given the majority of the group braved the snowiest

day in December to trek to Madison and meet in person. Our next meeting was on a lovely summer day in June—we almost forgot how cold we all were back in December!

We accomplished a lot over the last year, but rest assured, we are not done. With the profession facing many challenges, from the unknown impact of artificial intelligence to the waning number of CPA Exam candidates, we are on the front line. We look forward to leveraging our research and bringing forward innovative solutions.

I hope you will enjoy reading what we have been up to this past year, and best wishes for the year ahead!

Tom Linsmeier

Thomas G. Ragatz Accounting and Law Distinguished Chair

Richard J. Johnson Chair of the Department of Accounting and Information Systems

GIVE A GIFT THAT KEEPS GIVING

One of the most important ways you can support the Department of Accounting and Information Systems is by including us in your year-end charitable giving. Your gift to the Accounting and Information Systems Fund in Business allows us to offer many co-curricular programs for our students, including early-outreach and professional development programming to build core competencies in our graduates. These transformational experiences position all our students to confidently step into their careers and become the trusted leaders our school is so known for.

Back Together Again … And It Felt So Good!

After a three-year hiatus from an in-person celebration, we brought our annual awards banquet back to Madison in the fall of 2022. Students, faculty, and alumni came together on the UW–Madison campus to celebrate the achievements of our great students, recognize the generosity and impact of our donors, and honor the 2022 Distinguished Accounting Alumnus, James Henderson (BBA ’83, MS ’84).

Jim embodies the spirit of the Distinguished Accounting Alumnus Award and we were thrilled to recognize him with this honor. Mr. Henderson’s career was spent primarily working with the public accounting firm EY in their tax practice. While his client service years were primarily spent in Minneapolis, Jim filled many roles within EY that took him across the globe. Jim served as the firm’s tax managing partner for several U.S. regions before moving into the role of chief operating officer responsible for overall operations of EY’s tax practice for the Americas region.

What makes an alumnus “distinguished”? Beyond clear professional success and accomplishments, Distinguished Alumni are leaders with a spirit of service, which Jim truly embodies. Jim was described by former co-workers as strongly goal-oriented, highly ethical, and a beloved leader with high emotional intelligence. He is technically skilled, but was able to bring valuable business insights to any conversation beyond just the technical data. Jim continues to be generous with both his time and treasure, often being called upon to share his expertise and insights on various tax topics. Jim also carries a passion for Wisconsin; he and his wife, Kathy, are among the top donors to WSB, supporting our students through scholarships and faculty through a professorship fund. We are so fortunate to have alumni like Jim and were thrilled to honor him with our 2022 Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Department Chair Tom Linsmeier (left) presents the 2022 Distinguished Accounting Alumnus Award to James Henderson

OUTSTANDING GRADUATING SENIOR AWARDS

The department once again honored our top academic performers in the undergraduate accounting program. 11 students were recognized, each having achieved a cumulative undergraduate GPA above a 3.9! Impressive indeed.

• Nick Best (BBA ’22, MAcc ’23)

• Emma Blessinger (BBA ’22, MAcc ’23)

• Samantha Carroll (BBA ’22, MAcc ’23)

• Jessica Feriancek (BBA ’22)

• Maxwell Hofmeister (BBA ’22)

• Erik Hovila (BBA ’22, MAcc ’23)

• Mitchell Kastanek (BBA ’22, MAcc ’23)

• Josh Kritzer (BBA ’22, MAcc ’23)

• Matthew Phelan (BBA ’22, MAcc ’23)

• Chase Testwuide (BBA ’21)

• Amy Weyers (BBA ’22, MAcc ’23)

TEACHING ASSISTANT AWARDS

Graduate student teaching assistants are strong contributors to our teaching mission at WSB. Within accounting, teaching assistants lead the in-class delivery of our introductory financial and managerial accounting courses taken by all undergraduate students. Each year we are able to recognize two MAcc and two PhD TAs for their outstanding contribution in this important role.

Douglas Clarke Memorial Teaching Award (PhD)

Amanda Carlson (PhD ’23)

Dana Franzowiak (BBA ’21, MAcc ’22)

Jessica Nylen (PhD ’25)

Paul Udoni (BBA ’21, MAcc ’22)

Excellence in Teaching Award (MAcc)

From L to R: Amy Weyers, Matthew Phelan, Josh Kritzer, Mitchell Kastanek, Erik Hovila, Samantha Carroll, Emma Blessinger, and Nick Best

Students Awarded Highly Coveted Postgraduate Internships

MAcc students Emma Blessinger (BBA ’22, MAcc ’23) and Erik Hovila (BBA ’22, MAcc ’23) were awarded highly competitive postgraduate technical assistant (PTA) internships with the Governmental and Financial Accounting Standards Boards, respectively.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) are the bodies responsible for establishing Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) in the United States.

The GASB/FASB program provides highly motivated individuals with an opportunity to play an active role in the standard-setting process. This prestigious year-long program allows recent accounting program graduates to learn about standard setting—and the profession—by immersing PTAs directly into real-world accounting issues.

Emma joined the GASB in July, while Erik will begin his role on the Financial Reporting Taxonomy – eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) team with the FASB in January of 2024.

IN KEEPING WITH TRADITION

The MAcc program has a long tradition of students selected for these prestigious honors.

Recent GASB Interns

Devan Klaus (BBA ’20, MAcc ’21)

Emily Frieler (BBA ’19, MAcc ’20)

Shelby Cameron (BBA ’17, MAcc ’18)

Recent FASB Interns

Lauren Maier (BBA ’21, MAcc ’22)

Emma Little (BBA ’21, MAcc ’22)

Henry Mirsberger (BBA ’20, MAcc ’21)

Ally Gustke (BBA ’20, MAcc ’21)

Austin Heckman (BBA ’19, MAcc ’20)

Sarah Maule (BBA ’18, MAcc ’19)

Kevin Machut (BBA ’17, MAcc ’18)

Maddie Nash (BBA ’17, MAcc ’18)

Carter Calderon (BBA ’20, MAcc ’21)

Alex Tetzlaff (BBA ’19, MAcc ’20)

Ellen Lettenberger (BBA ’19, MAcc ’20)

Michael Lamers (BBA ’18)

Matthew Maley (BBA ’17, MAcc ’18)

Emma Blessinger

Erik Hovila

Recent Elijah Watt Sells Award Winners

A Busy Year for the Women in Finance and Accounting Student Group

The Women in Finance and Accounting (WIFA) student group had another full year, hosting a range of professional events with companies such as EY, KPMG, Plante Moran, Wipfli, and Kohler Co. (among others). They took a trek to Chicago where over 25 young women visited KPMG, Spaulding Ridge, and BMO to learn about various career paths in accounting and finance. To ensure a well-rounded experience for members, WIFA facilitated volunteer events in the local community, hosted DEI events for members, and implemented a mentoring program to link upper and lowerclassmen. It wasn’t all work, however; they also made time for social events such as their pumpkin painting social, a hockey game, and a movie night!

Elijah Watt Sells Award

The American Institute of CPAs announced 50 winners of the 2022 Elijah Watt Sells Award, and once again, the Wisconsin School of Business is represented. Kelsey Meyer (BBA ’20) was among the top performers.

The award recognizes those who scored a cumulative average score above 95.50 across all four sections of the CPA Examination, passed all four sections of the exam on their first attempt, and completed all testing in 2022. Some 67,000 individuals sat for the CPA Exam in 2022.

Kelsey is a senior accountant at Duly Health and Care in Naperville, Illinois.

Founded in 1923, the Elijah Watt Sells Award program annually recognizes those with top CPA Exam scores. Sells was one of the first CPAs in the U.S. and was key to the founding of the AICPA as well as education programs within the profession.

WIFA members visiting BMO on their trek to Chicago

Celebrating Continued Success

AAA OUTSTANDING DISSERTATION AWARDS

The accounting PhD program has a strong tradition of developing successful graduates who contribute to both the research and teaching missions of their respective universities. There is no better evidence of this strong program than the recent accolades given to three of our graduates. Linette Rousseau (PhD ’22), David Samuel (PhD ’22), and In Gyun Baek (PhD ’21) were all honored by the American Accounting Association (AAA) with Outstanding Dissertation Awards during 2022 and 2023.

Linette Rousseau, currently an assistant professor at the University of Houston, received the AAA’s Auditing Section 2023 Outstanding Dissertation Award. The award is given to recognize the most outstanding contribution to auditing knowledge.

David Samuel, now an assistant professor with Singapore Management University, received the AAA’s Taxation Section 2023 Outstanding Dissertation Award. The award is given to the year’s most outstanding dissertation based on originality, quality, and contribution to the literature.

In Gyun Baek, currently an assistant professor with the National University of Singapore, was honored with the AAA’s Management Section 2022 Outstanding Dissertation Award, which recognizes outstanding dissertation research in the field of management accounting.

A TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE

UW–Madison graduate programs are once again ranked among the nation’s best in the 2023–24 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Graduate Schools.”

#40 #33

full-time MBA

#20 marketing program

part-time MBA

#6 real estate program

#26 accounting program

FASB EMERGING SCHOLAR AWARD

Derek Christensen (PhD ’24) did not wait until graduation to begin earning accolades for his research. Derek was awarded the inaugural Emerging Scholar Award by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB).

“Derek was selected as the winning nominee by the five judges on the selection committee for his dissertation thesis topic addressing lease accounting,” says FASB board member Christine A. Botosan. “Ideas like Derek’s are exactly the kind of high-quality research this award program was established to recognize.”

Professor Tom Linsmeier, the Thomas G. Ragatz Accounting and Law Distinguished Chair, says Christensen’s award “recognizes that his dissertation work is consistent with the Wisconsin Idea, one of the longest and deepest traditions at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, which holds that education should influence people’s lives beyond the boundaries of the classroom. We are very pleased at this early stage of his career that Derek’s scholarship is being recognized for the potential contribution it provides to accounting policy makers in the nation and around the world.”

“We couldn’t be more proud that Derek was selected by the FASB as the first recipient of the Emerging Scholar Award,” says Dan Wangerin, the David J. Lesar Professor in Business and an associate professor of accounting and information systems at WSB. “For decades, the faculty and PhD students in our financial accounting group have taken great pride in research that can advance the accounting profession and make a difference. When our research helps standard setters like the FASB make better-informed policy decisions, we know our work is making an important impact. This award is a testament to the outstanding scholarly work that Derek is pursuing in our PhD program.”

Christensen’s research interests include archival-based research at the intersection of financial reporting and operational decisions with a focus on lease accounting.

Welcome to the PhD Program

This fall, we are excited to welcome one of our own back to Grainger Hall to begin a PhD program in accounting. Igor Marjanovic (BBA ’22, MAcc ’23, PhD ’28) earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, and economics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Upon completing a tax internship with Kimberly-Clark and an audit internship with Deloitte, Igor returned to Madison for his Master of Accountancy degree where his interest in research began to flourish. In addition to his graduate studies, Igor had the opportunity to work as a teaching assistant for the Introductory Financial Accounting course and this solidified his desire to pursue a PhD. Igor took advantage of all opportunities during his master’s program to engage with our research faculty, attend research workshops, and begin refining his area of research interest. Igor will be more than ready to join our PhD program to pursue his interest in archival financial reporting research. Welcome (back), Igor!

It’s Not Goodbye…

After demonstrating success in both teaching and research, we bid a fond farewell to three graduating PhD students.

Julia Ariel-Rohr (PhD ’23) has returned to her alma mater, DePaul University, to join the faculty as an assistant professor in what she describes as her “dream job.” We couldn’t be happier for Julia on this next step. Julia will continue her research in the area of corporate governance and audit research.

Amanda Carlson (PhD ’23) has happily returned to her New England roots after accepting an assistant professor position with Merrimack College. Amanda will continue pursuing her research interests in the areas of audit innovation and data analytics, revenue recognition audit quality, and auditor judgment and decision-making.

Ted Ahn (PhD ’23) has joined Washington State University as an assistant professor in their accounting department. We are thrilled for Ted to begin exploring the Pacific Northwest while continuing to pursue his research interests in managerial accounting topics, including the psychological mechanisms of employees’ judgement and decisionmaking, investment decisions of managers at firms, and the effects of management controls.

Dean Samba (fourth from left) with 2023 doctoral graduates, including Julia Ariel-Rohr (fourth from right), Ted Ahn (third from right), and Amanda Carlson (second from right)

Intersection of the Classroom and Research

Wisconsin School of Business students had a hand in what is the first known crowdsourced accounting study to ever take place—and outdid ChatGPT in the process.

Summary data from WSB Distinguished Teaching Professor Ann O’Brien’s Accounting Systems course last fall, along with data from 185 other institutions across 14 countries, was used for the experiment. The study pitted the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT against students in answering 28,085 accounting-based questions on topics ranging from audit and finance to tax and managerial content.

Judged on the number of correct responses to questions, results released as of January 2023 indicated that humans (students) outperformed ChatGPT by answering 76.7% of the questions correctly to the chatbot’s 56.5%. Not only did students overall exceed ChatGPT, but Wisconsin students did as well.

“The paper is noteworthy in two ways,” says O’Brien. “One, the way in which data was collected, compiled, and crowdsourced. And two, the content—ChatGPT. It’s one of the first research papers that looks at how ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot, performs compared to accounting students on exam questions.”

The study was just one of the ways O’Brien prepares her students to learn more about AI and other key tools while in school. Her Spring 2023 course, Foundation in Accounting Analytics, focused on emerging technologies and gives students the opportunity to practice applying them as future accounting professionals. Some of the analytical tools and technologies covered during the course include SAP Analytics, Tableau, Alteryx, Power BI, UiPath, and XBRL.

“In the class, students adopt a professional approach as accountants who are dealing with accounting analytics,” says O’Brien. “They are exploring different analytic tools and topics, everything from data management and cleaning ETL [a way of cleaning data short for ‘exact, transform, and load’] to visualizations, business modeling, automation, and financial statement analysis.”

She says students also have the freedom to “dive deeper and explore their interests” during the course and choose a technology—like ChatGPT—to then learn and teach to each other.

“It was fun to work on an innovative research project; and hopefully, my students are also inspired by opportunities to engage with the transformative impact of digital technologies,” O’Brien says.

O’Brien has invited notable speakers, many of whom are alumni working in the industry, to share their expertise with the class. Professionals from PwC and Johnson Controls have visited to talk about how they use Alteryx, a data cleaning tool, and Power BI, a data modeling technology. WSB accounting alum John Paetsch (BBA ’17, MA ’18), formerly a business intelligence manager at Epic who now works at Google as a finance data and analytics engineer, took students through the analytics exercise he does with his team. Mike Kreemer (BBA ’06, MA ’07), senior director in the sales program office with Workiva, discussed XBRL and the democratization of data with the class.

Distinguished Teaching Professor Ann O'Brien checks in with students during a ChatGPT project in Grainger Hall.

MAcc Program 2.0: Master of Science in Accounting and Business Analysis

The Master of Accountancy (MAcc) graduate program has existed in its current form for almost 25 years—a testament to the quality of the program and those who designed it years ago. However, with the pace of change in the accounting profession, and with the CPA Exam itself set for a major overhaul, it was time to evaluate the MAcc program to ensure it continues to provide great value to our future students who pursue it. With great excitement, in the fall of 2024 we will enroll our first class of students into the new Master of Science-Business: Accounting and Business Analysis (MSABA) program.

Designed for students with an undergraduate major in accounting, the MSABA program will retain the core tenants of the MAcc program but will also recognize the changing skills and competencies demanded by the accounting profession. Our students must be agile with a deep understanding of systems, controls, and data analysis and have strong capabilities in problem solving, critical thinking, and professional judgement. The curriculum of the MSABA program will best prepare our students to enter the profession with the necessary skills to advance rapidly in their careers.

The curriculum is built upon a core set of courses in analytics, technology, and analysis that all MSABA students will complete. From there, students have the flexibility to pursue one of two tracks: taxation or accounting, assurance, and advisory (AAA). Finally, students will complete coursework in one of five disciplines from relevant business areas outside of accounting: risk management, emerging technologies, sustainability, M&A deal advisory, or wealth management.

We are excited to take this next step in our graduate program and wish to thank our faculty for their dedication to bringing this program to realization. We appreciate feedback from our external advisory board as we researched the most critical skills demanded of professionals entering the workforce, as well as our colleagues across the Wisconsin School of Business for collaborating to develop this new and exciting curriculum.

MASTER OF SCIENCE: ACCOUNTING & BUSINESS ANALYSIS

Core Courses

Foundation in Accounting Analytics

Information Risk, Control & Forensics

Accounting & Analysis for Reporting Entities

Track 1: AAA

Financial Statement Analysis

Advanced Auditing: Analysis, Policy, and Judgment

Accounting Theory: Reporting Incentives & Consequences

Analysis of Performance Measurement & Control

Risk Management Emerging Technologies

Track 2: Taxation

Analysis of Taxation for Passthrough Entities

Tax Research, Procedure & Analysis

Analysis of International Taxation

Analysis of Taxes & Business Decisions

Disciplines

Sustainability

M&A Deal Advisory Wealth Management

Helping us shepherd in this new program is Katharine Widlak (BBA ’10, MAcc ’11). Katharine joined the department as our new director of professional programs in accounting this past January. Katharine is an alumna of our MAcc program and comes to us from the University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of Extension where she served as CFO. We are so excited to welcome back Katharine to WSB and know our students will benefit from her leadership in the MSABA program.

Building Community

One important element of the MAcc program is our goal of building community among the students through shared experiences. Throughout their time in the program, students have the opportunity to participate in group work and case competitions and engage our co-curricular ethics and professionalism program. Some students take advantage of study abroad opportunities, and all MAcc students participate in a relevant internship experience at the culmination of their undergraduate studies. When moving into the graduate year, MAcc students have access to a dedicated space within WSB, further enhancing their community. These activities and more will be retained as we transition to the MSABA program. We deem them to be as valuable as the lessons learned in the classroom.

1) MAcc students gather for a group photo at the annual fall awards banquet. 2) From L to R: Graduating MAcc students Cecilia Huang, Jadyn Syverson, Monica Murphy, Mirnaly Veguilla, and Chloe Eggers pose for a graduation photo outside Grainger Hall. 3) A MAcc student gets creative at graduation. 4) From L to R: MAcc students Jace Hipp and George Jamison pose with Bucky at the MAcc graduation celebration. 5) From L to R: Graduating MAcc students Samantha Carroll, Corinne Bialo, and Katie Chafoulias pose for a picture with Dean Samba on graduation day. 6) Faculty join MAcc students for an impromptu outing.

Collaboration Within the Wisconsin School of Business

The Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at the Wisconsin School of Business launched the Small Business Accounting and Projection Clinic (APC) in January 2022 with the enthusiastic support of Kristen Fuhremann (BBA ’99, MAcc ’00), WSB deputy department chair in accounting and information systems. This partnership has succeeded in both stimulating small business growth in the community and providing a unique hands-on learning experience for several WSB students in the practical aspects of small business accounting and funding.

The SBDC Accounting and Projection Clinic assists start-up and growth-minded entrepreneurs in the Madison and surrounding three-county area with no-cost, confidential, one-on-one assistance in creating financial projections necessary for traditional commercial lending and SBA-backed funding requests. Preparing reasoned, supported, and technically proficient financial projections is a challenge for many entrepreneurs as they may not have a financial background, making this support instrumental to obtaining funding needed for business launch or growth. Additionally, the clinic provides no-cost training to clinic clients covering basic accounting concepts, record keeping, and cash flow management.

WSB student interns work with clinic clients in a consulting role to gather appropriate projection inputs, build a financial projection model based on the entrepreneur’s business plan, and then communicate risks and opportunities inherent in the completed projections to the entrepreneur. Students gain valuable understanding of how the many different aspects of a business model—such as revenue stream characteristics, seasonality, pricing, start-up, and material operating costs—work together to inform projected cash flow and financial outcomes. Students are managed by Anne Inman, SBDC clinic manager, an MBA and CPA with experience in both public and corporate accounting and a passion for contributing to student learning and professional development. Students work 10–15 hours per week around their class schedule, both remotely and out of the SBDC office in Grainger Hall. The student internship is a paid position, with funding for the clinic generously provided in part by Federal Community Project Funds and a grant from Associated Bank.

The clinic has been a highly successful community outreach program, helping 27 clients support $5.7 million in loan potential to date. Student interns have also greatly enjoyed and valued their experience. Here’s what a couple of them have had to say!

“Throughout my internship, I was involved in various projects that allowed me to apply the theoretical knowledge I had acquired in school to real-life business scenarios. I assisted start-up and growth-minded entrepreneurs with developing business assumptions, creating financial projections, and identifying funding opportunities that were in line with their business objectives. The program provides an exceptional opportunity to work with a team of professionals who are passionate about empowering entrepreneurs and helping them achieve their business goals.”

—Ye Zhou (MAcc ’23)

“I really enjoyed my experience working for the Small Business Development Center. It was cool to see the full picture of the small businesses I got to work with from their tax returns to financial statements. As an accounting major entering the public accounting field next year, this consulting role gave me a smaller-scale understanding of what my future will hold.”

—Ryan Fischer (BBA ’24, MAcc ’25)

LIFELONG LEARNING AND ALUMNI INSIGHTS

Lifelong learning: engaging in activities that contribute to personal and professional development. Students are often reminded by Professor Terry Warfield that they are always in a “state of becoming.” With the current pace of change in the business world, a learning mindset is imperative to longterm success. Accounting students were treated to this message from Professor Warfield and given suggestions on how to practice lifelong learning in their careers during a special session near the end of the spring term.

To reinforce the message, and provide insights into the relevance of this mindset, Professor Warfield facilitated a panel discussion with six accounting alumni whose careers have taken them in many different directions. Panel members included: Julia Ariel-Rohr (PhD ’23), accounting PhD student; Brian Caisman (BBA ’99, MAcc ’00), partner, PwC; Kim Fleissner (BBA ’01, MAcc ’02), CEO, Shopbop; Ousmane Kabre (BBA ’15, MAcc ’16), founder, Intro Group, Yam Education, and Leading Change Africa; Brent Wegner (BBA ’02, MAcc ’03), VP revenue operations, Zendesk; and Katharine Widlak (BBA ’10, MAcc ’11), director of professional programs in accounting, Wisconsin School of Business.

Responding to probing questions posed by Professor Warfield, the panelists took students on a journey, sharing key insights from various points throughout their careers. Panelists were open and honest about things they have learned over time; they shared successes, challenges, and opportunities for growth. Some of the more impactful pieces of advice shared with students included the idea of “running towards the fire.” A bit of uneasiness is good—it means you are learning and growing. Much of the discussion focused on the personal side of professional development. Despite their varying career paths, each of the panelists focused their comments heavily on the human side of business. “It’s not what you do, but how you make people feel.” Panelists emphasized the importance of having humility, the art of listening and observing, finding a mentor, and having empathy—quite simply, “being a human.” In a time when much of our conversations are focused on advances in technology and the impact of artificial intelligence, it was a great reminder for our students of the critical nature of human interactions in the profession.

We are so thankful to our alumni for sharing their time and insights with our students!

From L to R: Katharine Widlak, Brent Wegner, Julia Ariel-Rohr, Brian Caisman, Kim Fleissner, Ousmane Kabre, and Professor Terry Warfield

Examining Stakeholder Capitalism

Accounting students were treated to a guest visit from Alison Omens, chief strategy officer of JUST Capital. As part of the ongoing ethics and professionalism component of our curriculum, funded through a generous endowment from Howard and Sue Carver, Alison traveled to Madison to engage accounting students on the relevant topic of stakeholder capitalism. The mission of JUST Capital is “to catalyze corporate leadership to tackle society’s most pressing challenges.” Their goal? “A world in which business and markets are a force for the greater good, driving competition to build a better future for all of us.”

With over one hundred students and faculty in attendance, Professor Terry Warfield engaged Alison in a “fireside chat” around the topic of stakeholder capitalism and how it intersects with the broader business world and the accounting profession specifically. The discussion started with Alison explaining the concept of stakeholder capitalism and its relationship to the topic of ESG. While the broad topics of stakeholder capitalism and ESG are not new, the view that there is a direct connection to value creation within a business that operates with all stakeholders in mind is increasing in popularity. Alison shared that they are seeing these topics elevated to be part of core operational decisions within many organizations. And investors are taking note, with cash inflows to ESG funds increasing sharply.

Alison spoke about the current challenges surrounding stakeholder capitalism and ESG; both are illdefined and difficult to measure with no standard reporting mechanism subject to independent audit. Transparency is often used as a proxy to evaluate companies’ commitment to all stakeholders. She emphasized the need to connect the data on ESG practices with company performance with the goal of holding businesses to higher expectations. While there has been a lot of positive progress, Alison noted, “we are still in the top of the second inning.”

The discussion wrapped up with some very thoughtful questions from the students in the audience, clearly energized by the topic and their role as future business professionals. We are so thankful to Alison for taking the time to visit the UW–Madison campus and sharing her insights with us. We are also thankful for Howard and Sue Carver for establishing the Ethics in Accounting Endowment Fund to make events like this a possibility.

Alison was most recently advisor for private sector engagement to U.S. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez, where she managed the inclusive capitalism strategy for the secretary and with the White House. She was also responsible for engagement with the department’s future-ofwork efforts and its ESG investing guidance. Previously, she was vice president at Outreach Strategies, an environmental strategic communications firm, and the director of media outreach for the AFL-CIO. Alison received her Master of Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School and BA from Scripps College.

Alison Omens

Terry Warfield engages guest speaker Alison Omens in a “fireside chat."

FanTAXtic!

A team from the Wisconsin School of Business advanced to nationals in the Deloitte FanTAXtic Case Competition, a prestigious invitational that helps students gain real-world business experience. UW’s 2023 team—including Samantha Bourjolly, Mohd Atif, Aarush Jain, Joshua Cao, and Tommy Gibney—competed against more than 200 students from approximately 40 colleges and universities in the regional competition in October 2022. UW–Madison was one of only 16 teams that advanced to the national finals, held in Westlake, Texas, at Deloitte University (DU) in January 2023.

For the regional competition, Deloitte assigned a hypothetical real-world scenario to the teams in September. Each team then researched ways to address the case’s potential business and tax implications, delivering their comprehensive solution to judges in a virtual presentation in October.

Senior lecturer Lindsay Acker, the faculty advisor for the team, was there to assist with general strategies and provide suggestions, but UW’s regional FanTAXtic victory belongs to the students who earned it. “They all worked so hard,” Acker says. “Together, they were able to formulate a plan to analyze the data and prepare a professional presentation, and on a very tight timeline. We are all very proud of our student team.”

At DU, the details of the case were shared Friday evening, and presentations were given first thing Saturday morning. UW’s student team worked through the night and delivered a brilliant presentation, only to be met with a change in client facts and asked to present again later in the afternoon. The DU experience provided our students with real-world client service practice, team-building opportunities, and a chance to think on their feet and show off their impressive research skills.

Audit Innovation

A team of UW–Madison students was selected as one of 12 national finalists for the 2022 Deloitte Audit Innovation Campus Challenge. During the fall semester, students had just over two weeks to submit a response to a challenge statement that was evaluated by a panel of judges.

Undergraduate accounting students Toki Gao, Christopher Talamo, Basil Millevolte, Trent Jarvi, Breanne Karlen, and Nisha Desai worked hard on their submission, supported by senior lecturer and faculty advisor Joanna Wangerin. The 12 teams selected as national finalists earned a trip to Deloitte University in Westlake, Texas, in March where they presented their response to a new challenge statement regarding ESG reporting.

The students were treated to a bevy of real-world challenges for the national competition with scheduling conflicts preventing Trent and Nisha from competing in March and travel delays preventing Toki and Basil from making it to Texas in time to compete. In the spirit of constant resourcefulness, the team pivoted and decided to innovate the Innovation Challenge! Chris and Breanne presented in person with Toki and Basil presenting via Zoom.

Joanna Wangerin shares, “The UW–Madison team did an excellent job of representing our department and school at the Deloitte Audit Innovation Campus Challenge. I could not be more proud of how the team handled the unforeseen travel issues.”

From L to R: Samantha Bourjolly, Mohd Atif, Aarush Jain, and Joshua Cao. (Not pictured: Tommy Gibney, who was studying abroad at the time of the national competition.)

Welcome, Ewelina Forker!

The department warmly welcomes Ewelina Forker as a new assistant professor. Ewelina received a PhD in accounting from Emory University in May 2023. In recognition of her commitment to research, teaching, and service, she earned multiple fellowships at Emory, including the Deloitte Foundation Doctoral Fellowship in 2022. Prior to completing her doctoral degree, Ewelina worked for over a decade leading manufacturing transformations at industry-leading firms in health care, IT, and oil and gas, including such organizations as GE and HP. She received a BS in industrial engineering from Texas A&M University while earning All-American accolades as a captain on the swimming and diving team. While she did not start her career as an accountant, she quickly learned the value of accounting, recognizing that a thorough understanding of how decisions affect the ledger is crucial for managerial success.

Ewelina’s work experience informs her research interests, which focus on the design of effective management control systems in joint human-machine decision-making, particularly in the context of organizational forecasting and planning. Her dissertation examines the predictive power of organizational “dark data” for future firm performance. “Dark data” is characterized as the vast amounts of information that organizations collect and store but fail to utilize for decision-making. Using proprietary firm data from a large, U.S.-based company seeking to improve its forecasting and planning process, Ewelina conducts textual analysis of employee emails, a ubiquitous form of dark data. She finds that aggregate email sentiment is significantly associated with future unit sales, even after controlling for traditional forecast-relevant information. Furthermore, the predictive power of aggregate sentiment for future sales is greater for products in the growth and decline phases, for which information uncertainty is greater, and for emails sent by rank-and-file employees, for which information sharing is more costly. Her findings demonstrate the potential for machine algorithms to synthesize human insights from unstructured employee communications to improve internal forecasting and planning.

Ewelina looks forward to working with new colleagues on practically relevant research that advances our understanding of managerial decision-making. She is also eager to engage with students, alumni, and corporate partners at WSB. After working at GE Healthcare in Waukesha in the early 2000s, Ewelina is excited to return to Wisconsin with her husband, Jake, and two young boys, Jakey and Johnny, who look forward to playing in the snow and cheering on the Badgers and the Packers.

DEPARTMENT CHANGES

In the past year, the department saw the retirements of both our former department chair, Mark Covaleski, and academic program manager, Michele Parker. When Tom Linsmeier took the helm of the department in fall of 2022, mission number one was bolstering the administrative capacity of the department to help carry out critical initiatives. To do so, he elevated Kristen Fuhremann (BBA ’99, MAcc ’00) to deputy department chair. Katharine Widlak (BBA ’10, MAcc ’11) was brought on to fill the director of professional programs role vacated by Kristen, and Nhia Vang (BS ’20, MS ’22) began as the new academic program manager.

Kristen Fuhremann Katharine Widlak Nhia Vang

Recognizing Milestones: Teaching Professors

The teaching professor title, recently introduced on the UW–Madison campus, is a non-tenure track title for instructional staff whose contributions can be characterized by excellence, distinction, and innovation in the instructional enterprise within their department and beyond. Three members from the Department of Accounting and Information Systems were recognized with this title.

Ann O’Brien

Professor O’Brien’s value to the University of Wisconsin–Madison is evident in her teaching contributions alone. As a leader in curriculum development, she has developed multiple new courses during her tenure in the Wisconsin School of Business, including most recently a new course in accounting analytics, all the while contributing to the overall teaching mission of the department by filling various roles and courses when called upon. Professor O’Brien continues her significant contributions to the profession as a leader in the AIS Educators Association, including as former president; published author in the AAA Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting; and recipient of both the Best Education Paper submission at the AAA’s AIS Section mid-year meeting in 2020 and the AAA AIS Section’s Outstanding Service Award.

Joseph Boucher

Professor Boucher has served the University of Wisconsin–Madison for over 40 years, with significant contributions to the teaching mission of our undergraduate and graduate student populations. Professor Boucher has demonstrated a significant amount of flexibility and innovation in his teaching roles, adjusting his delivery of content to best serve each population of students. Beyond his teaching contributions, Professor Boucher serves WSB students through his role on the Board of Directors of the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship, where he mentors students at a crucial point in their entrepreneurial endeavors; his contributions in this space earned him the Excellence in Entrepreneurial Education award from the Wisconsin Technology Council. Professor Boucher is also a strong contributor to the profession, from drafting legislation in the state of Wisconsin to his prolific contributions to industry publications.

Robert Misey

The breadth of Professor Misey’s teaching contributions to University of Wisconsin–Madison students is unmatched, whether teaching accounting to law students, research and international taxation concepts to graduate accounting students, or tax concepts to students in the School of Human Ecology. He brings energy, fun, and a very student-centric approach to instruction. Beyond his contributions to the school, Professor Misey serves the profession through his roles on the Accounting Examining Board (via appointment from Governor Evers), the International Institute of Wisconsin, and the advisory board for The Journal of Tax Practice and Procedure. Rob is the author of two textbooks and a regular contributor to The Journal of Tax Practice and Procedure.

Well-Deserved Faculty Honors

Fabio Gaertner

It was a big year for Fabio Gaertner, who was selected as one of only 12 faculty members across the UW–Madison campus for a Distinguished Teaching Award and promoted to the rank of full professor. Both are cause for celebration in their own right, and for them to come in the same year is very special. Fabio earned the Chancellor’s Teaching Innovation Award for his work in the classroom. Fabio is an outstanding, respected instructor at WSB, and he has worked hard to polish his already excellent teaching skills. He currently teaches Financial Accounting for MBAs, a core class in the Master of Business Administration degree. The demanding course draws students with widely varying levels of accounting expertise, and it covers a subject with a reputation for being difficult and dry. But the course has become a student favorite under Gaertner. His students speak of feeling engaged, entertained, and challenged. They note how Gaertner’s teaching style makes a challenging subject intuitive and easy to understand. Further, his students report learning lifelong financial skills—skills that empower them in their personal and professional lives.

Fabio also received recognition from Contemporary Accounting Research as an Outstanding Reviewer.

Publication:

Dyreng, S., Gaertner, F., Hoopes, J., Vernon, M. “The Effect of U.S. Tax Reform on the Tax Burdens of U.S. Domestic and Multinational Corporations.” Contemporary Accounting Research (2023)

Emily Griffith

Emily Griffith continues to provide valuable service to the academy, being reappointed as an editor for Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory and newly appointed to the editorial board for The Accounting Review.

Emily was selected as a recipient of the Exceptional Service Support Program award by the university. The Exceptional Service Support Program acknowledges and supports assistant and associate professors, especially women and those from historically underrepresented groups, who perform service activities beyond what is expected of tenure-track and tenured faculty members. The selection committee recognized Emily’s impressive commitment to service to the department, school, and profession, in addition to maintaining a high level of research and creative productivity.

Publication:

Estep, C. R., Griffith, E.E., and MacKenzie, N.L. “How Do Financial Executives Respond to the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Financial Reporting and Auditing?” Review of Accounting Studies (forthcoming)

Robert Misey

Rob Misey has received several appointments during the last year. The International Tax Journal has named Rob to its advisory board and the American Bar Association has appointed Rob as the senior advisor for its International Tax Committee. With respect to community service, Rob was reappointed to another term as a member of the Board of Directors for the International Institute of Wisconsin, which assists immigrants in settling in Wisconsin.

Publications:

Misey, Jr., R.J. "Filing Categories for Form 5471: Understanding the Nuances of Filing Categories." Taxes (2023)

Rob also continues to write his quarterly column "Global View" for The Journal of Tax Practice & Procedure.

Stacie Kelley

Stacie Kelley presented her paper with Katie Boylen (PhD ’25) and Mary Vernon (PhD ’21) titled “Tax the Fellow Behind the Tree: Determinants and Impacts of Heavily Sales Weighted Income Tax Apportionment” at the University of Arizona and Erasmus University. She discussed “Can Better Tax Enforcement Moderate Airbnb’s Pressure on Housing Costs?” by J. Ellis, D. Kenchington, J. Smith, and R. White at the Texas-Waterloo Tax Conference in Toronto. Stacie also received recognition from Contemporary Accounting Research as an Outstanding Reviewer.

Publication:

Bornemann, T., Laplante, S.K., Osswald, B. “The Effect of Intellectual Property Boxes on Innovative Activity & Effective Tax Rates.” Journal of the American Taxation Association (2023)

Willie Choi

In June 2023, Willie Choi began serving a three-year term as an editor at The Accounting Review, which is considered one of the "top three" academic accounting research journals. He has served on The Accounting Review's editorial and advisory review board since 2017.

Willie was also elected to serve on the American Accounting Association’s Nominations Committee for the 2023–24 academic year.

Russell Epp

Russell Epp was recognized as an Honored Instructor in the Fall 2022 semester. Honored Instructors is a student-initiated program in University Housing that encourages students to recognize instructors that have inspired them, challenged them, and made an impact on their learning. This is the fourth time Russell has received this distinction. This year, Russell also celebrated 10 years of teaching at the Wisconsin School of Business!

Terry Warfield

Terry Warfield is the recipient of the 2023 Accounting Horizons Best Paper Award from the American Accounting Association (AAA). The paper, “Stakeholder Engagement and Effective Standard-Setting,” was coauthored with Amanda Convery (PhD ’15) of the University of Delaware and Matt Kaufman (PhD ’16) of Portland State University. It was published in the June 2022 issue of Accounting Horizons, AAA’s quarterly journal that publishes papers focusing on the scholarship of integration and application. The Accounting Horizons Best Paper Award is presented to the best paper published each calendar year.

The authors were presented with the award during AAA’s annual meeting in Denver, Colorado, in August.

John J. Wild

John Wild was invited to serve on the 2022–23 AAA Distinguished Contributions to Accounting Literature Award Committee. John was also reappointed to the editorial board of the Journal of Accounting and Public Policy and was a presenter at the AAA Annual Meeting in California.

Publications:

Wild, J.J., Wild, J.M. "International Joint Ventures, Shareholder Returns, Venture Complexity, and Political Risk." Journal of Corporate Accounting & Finance (2023)

Wild, J.J., Wild, J.M. "Managerial Incentives and the Valuation of International Joint Venture Formation." Journal of Accounting, Business and Finance Research (2022)

Karla Zehms

Professor Karla M. Zehms and former PhD student Linette Rousseau (PhD ’22) recently published a paper on the new auditor reporting model, “It’s a Matter of Style: The Role of Audit Firms and Audit Partners in Key Audit Matter Reporting” (Contemporary Accounting Research). In the paper, they examine the relative importance of audit firm versus partner decision styles in key audit matter (KAM) reporting. Standard-setters intended KAMs to increase the usefulness of the audit report by requiring the partner-led engagement team to disclose engagement-specific information about the most significant judgments they made during the audit.

However, stakeholders expressed widespread concern that audit firms’ longstanding efforts towards standardization would result in generic KAMs at the audit firm level and provide partners little opportunity or incentive for engagementspecific reporting.

The results show that clients sharing the same partner receive KAMs that are 10 percent more textually similar than clients with different partners. In contrast, clients sharing the same audit firm receive KAMs that are just two percent more textually similar than clients with different audit firms.

This implies that partner decision styles are more important in influencing KAM outcomes than audit firm styles. Collectively, the results suggest that partners make unique KAM reporting judgments, countering concerns that audit firms’ efforts toward standardization will yield boilerplate KAMs.

This evidence extends the literature on expanded audit reporting and partner decision styles and provides valuable insights into a contemporary issue in audit regulation with broader implications for understanding dynamics within the profession.

DEPARTMENT OF ACCOUNTING AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS

With two full board meetings each academic year, along with many informal consultations throughout the year, we are truly thankful for the time, energy, and feedback provided by our advisory board.

Steven Carter * VP/CFO Briess Malt & Ingredients Co.

Dianne Dubois* Principal Maple Street Associates

Katherine Feucht * AERS Partner Deloitte

Scott Harmsen* Partner, Tax Services Grant Thornton

Andrea Jansen* Assurance Partner Baker Tilly

Tim Mattke* Chief Executive Officer MGIC Investment Corporation

Derek Matzke* Assurance Partner BDO

Amy Mutziger * Vice President, Global Controller Johnson Controls, Inc.

Sarah A. Nemke* Senior Director SC Johnson & Son, Inc.

Jason Parsons* Audit Partner KPMG

Jason Schultz * Director, High Yield Research Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company

Jessica Schwantes* Tax Partner Wipfli

Laura Shiffman* Financial Accounting Advisory Services Partner EY

Isabel Tarnowski * Senior Manager, Reporting & Compliance Douglas Dynamics

Troy Van Beek * Chief Financial Officer American Family Insurance

Brad M. Zastoupil * Partner – Trust Solutions PricewaterhouseCoopers *Alumni

975 University Avenue Madison, WI 53706

THE BADGER ACCOUNT

STAY IN TOUCH

TOM LINSMEIER

Department Chair, Accounting and Information Systems

Richard J. Johnson Chair of the Department of Accounting and Information Systems

Thomas G. Ragatz Accounting and Law Distinguished Chair

thomas.linsmeier@wisc.edu

(608) 265-2985

KRISTEN FUHREMANN

Deputy Department Chair, Accounting and Information Systems

kristen.fuhremann@wisc.edu

(608) 262-0316