Accountancy

Özlem Arikan is a first-year PhD student in Accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  She earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the Middle East Technical University, Turkey in 1992 and completed the Master in Professional Accounting Program at the University of Texas at Austin in 2001. After graduation, he worked as an expert at the Turkish Financial Regulatory Agency. She also worked as a Lecturer at the Middle East Technical University. She enjoys music and reading.

Rachel Birkey, CPA, is a third-year student in Accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She received her Bachelor’s of Public Accounting from Illinois Wesleyan University in 2001 and completed the Master’s of Science in Accounting program at Illinois State University in 2002. After graduation, Rachel worked in the tax department of BKD, LLP. She enjoys spending time with her family – especially her husband, creatively cooking in healthy ways, reading good books and cheering on the Fighting Illini.

Billy Brewster is a sixth-year PhD student in Accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is originally from Dallas, Texas and earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Texas at Arlington in December 1996. Prior to enrollment in the PhD program, he was an audit manager with Ernst & Young LLP.

Sean Cao is a first-year PhD student in Accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Sean earned two Masters’ degrees, one in international finance from Yonsei University and the other in algorithmic mathematics from Beijing Normal University. Prior to enrollment in the PhD program, Sean spent two years to further study economics, econometrics and finance at the University of Hawaii and UIUC. His research interest is empirical capital market, particularly the relation between accounting information and stock return. Sean likes movies, watching sports and a variety of water sports including swimming, snorkeling and scuba diving.

Po-Chang (Bryant) Chen is a second-year PhD student in Accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received both his bachelor’s and master’s degree in Accounting from National Taiwan University. He also passed Taiwan CPA exam in 2000. Prior to his enrollment in the PhD program, he worked for 2 years at Abeam Consulting, an Asian-based management consulting firm, as a business analyst. He loves playing badminton in free time and enjoys movies and spending time with friends.

Jonathan (Jon) Grenier is a fifth-year PhD student in Accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received a BBA and MAcc from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1999 and 2000, respectively. After graduation, Jon worked for Andersen in Atlanta for two years in the assurance practice. After Andersen, Jon became a senior associate at KPMG. Jon is primarily interested in judgment and decision making research in auditing. Specific interests include professional skepticism, auditor independence, outcome effects, motivated reasoning, and audit risk assessment.

[Vita]

Ling Harris is a fourth-year PhD student in Accountancy at the University of Illinois. She received an MAS degree in 2003 from the University of Illinois. She worked as a Lecturer in the University, teaching Financial Accounting Standards. Her research interests are financial and managerial accounting with an emphasis in corporate governance. She enjoys traveling and spending time with her family.

Yoon Ju Kang is a second-year PhD student in Accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. .She received her BA in Public Relations and Business Administration from Ewha Womans University in Korea and earned her Master's in Accountancy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Before coming to Illinois, she worked for two years as a junior associate at Samsung Securities in Korea. She enjoys playing sports and spending time with her friends and family.

Walied Keshk is a third-year PhD student in Accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He earned his Master’s of Accounting and Bachelor’s of Accounting from Alexandria University, Egypt in October 2004 and May 1998, respectively. Prior to entering the PhD program, he was an assistant lecturer at the Department of Accounting at Alexandria University, Egypt for six years. He is interested in managerial and cost accounting. In his spare time, he enjoys watching movies and hanging out with friends.

Wei-Chern Koh is a fifth-year PhD student in Accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) of Singapore. She was a senior tutor at Nanyang Business School and has undergraduate accounting courses. Prior to that, she was a tax accountant of a Singapore public listed company where she was in charge of the tax compliance and tax projects of several subsidiaries. Her research interest is in the capital markets and includes value of accounting information, and corporate governance.

Justin Leiby is a first-year PhD student in Accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Bachelor of Arts in German from the University of Pittsburgh in 2004. After graduation, he worked as a Business Development Manager for iGate Corporation, an IT Consulting firm in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Justin’s academic interest include Judgment and Decision Making and experimental research. His non-academic interests include literature, philosophy, walking, watching sports, and – most importantly – spending time with his wife.

Liesel L. Mitchell, MBA, CPA, CMA, is a seventh-year PhD student in Accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She received a BS in 1995 and an MBA in 1996 from the University of Tennessee at Martin. She has been a staff accountant with a local firm in Dyersburg, Tennessee, as well as the senor accountant at Jimmy Dean Foods in Newbern, Tennessee. She operated her won CPA practice, focusing primarily on individual tax preparation. Most recently, she taught Principles of Accounting at the University of Tennessee at Martin. She is also a Captain in the Tennessee Army National Guard, where she currently serves as a Company Commander for the headquarters company of the 230th Engineer Battalion. She and her husband Greg, have a son Bryant Steven Mitchell who was born June 18, 2004. Her stepson Josh is sixteen and is a junior in high school in Tennessee. She enjoys cross-stitching, reading, and hiking.

Seth D. Muriset, CPA, is a third-year PhD student in Accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In August of 2002 he graduated from the University of Georgia, majoring in accounting and management information systems earning a Bachelor of Business Administration degree and a Masters of Accountancy degree. Prior to pursuing the doctoral program, he was an Audit Senior at Ernst & Young in Atlanta. He enjoys playing golf and tennis, snowboarding in the winter, tinkering with computers, reading, and spending time with family and friends.

Paula Sanders, CPA, is a sixth-year PhD student in Accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She received both a Bachelor’s in Business Administration and a MBA from the University of California at Berkeley. She has worked primarily as an auditor, most recently as a Principal Auditor with the University of California at Berkeley’s Audit & Advisory Services Department. She has also worked part-time as an instructor at the University of San Francisco and as a non-profit accounting consultant. Her research interests include audit and internal control decisions, performance measures, and financial disclosures, and she is looking forward to learning about other possible research areas. When she can find the time, she enjoys movies, walking, cooking, and is hoping to learn to play the guitar.

 

Padmakumar M. Sivadasan is a second-year PhD student in Accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has an undergraduate degree in Veterinary Medicine from the Kerala Agricultural University, India. He completed his Master’s degree in accounting at the University of North Texas. He is a member of the Indian Revenue Service and he is pursuing his PhD while on sabbatical from the Government of India. He enjoys public speaking, traveling and watching cricket, but above all, loves spending time with his wife Ambika, and their son, Rohan.

I-Ling Wang is a third-year PhD student in Accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from National Taiwan University in 2002 and 2004, respectively. Prior to enrollment in the PhD program, she worked at Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica in Taiwan as a research assistant in the field of population and family economics. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, biking, music, and travel.

Jundong (Jeff) Wang is a second-year PhD student in Accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He earned his Master of Science in Finance degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in May 2006 and his Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Shanghai International Studies University in 2004. Prior to enrollment in the doctoral program, he worked as a Management Trainee for Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong for one year. In his free time, he enjoys playing golf, basketball and watching movies.

Brian White is a first-year PhD student in Accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  After completing his Bachelor’s degree in Foreign Service at Georgetown University, Brian moved to the UK, where he earned a Master’s degree in African Studies from the University of Edinburgh and an MBA from Manchester Business School.  He and his wife spent ten years growing a chain of retail stores in Liverpool, England, which they successfully sold in 2007.  Brian’s research interests include comparative international accounting and accounting for private enterprise.  He enjoys running, skiing and entertaining friends and family with his wife and three young children.

Yu-Ching (Steve) Wu is a second-year PhD student in Accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his Bachelor’s degree in MIS from National Taiwan University in 2000 and the Master’s degree in Accounting from National Chengchi University in 2002. Prior to enrollment in the PhD program, Steve worked at Strategic Cost Management Association as a consultant and research assistant in the field of managerial accounting. His habits include swimming, walking, reading and cooking. He also enjoys spending time with his family and having an afternoon coffee with friends in his spare time.

Xingwu (Henry) Zhang is a first-year PhD student in Accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his Master’s degree in Actuarial Science from the University of Illinois in May 2007, and earned his Ph.D. in Mechanics and Mathematics from Peking University in 2003. Prior to his enrollment in the doctoral program, he worked as a system engineer and strategy analyst for two years in China, focusing on the architecture design of the information system for the government. When he can find the time, he enjoys Chinese traditional paining and calligraphy, reading, playing basketball, table-tennis, and spending time with his daughter and friends.

Hui Zhou is a third-year PhD student in Accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is originally from China, and received her Bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology in 2002. Prior to enrollment in the PhD program, she spent three years in the doctoral program in Management Information Systems at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and earned a Master’s degree in Information Systems along with a Graduate Certificate in Systems Development. When she can find time, she enjoys pending time with family and friends, watching movies, shopping, and reading, especially Chinese literature and history.