Allison Koester

Dr. Allison Koester is an assistant accounting professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, where she conducts research on corporate taxation and financial reporting. She has published scholarly articles in The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Management Science, Review of Accounting Studies, and the Journal of the American Taxation Association. Her research has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the Huffington Post, Inside Investor Relations, and Tax Notes, and she has been invited to present her research at more than 40 academic institutions and conferences.

Koester was selected as one of the 2016 “40-under-40 Most Outstanding Business School Professors” by Poets & Quants, and was featured in the Financial Times’ 2014 ‘Women in Business’ series. Koester is the 2014 recipient of the McDonough School of Business’ Ronald L. Smith Distinguished Service Award. Koester teaches financial reporting and analysis to all first-year daytime MBA students (≈275/year) at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.

Koester received a Ph.D. from the University of Washington, a Master of Accountancy degree from The George Washington University, and a bachelor’s degree in business with an emphasis in accounting from the University of Arizona (summa cum laude with honors). Prior to entering academia, she was a senior tax associate in KPMG, LLP’s Washington National Tax office and a CPA in the Commonwealth of Virginia (currently inactive).

Education

• University of Washington - Ph.D., Business Administration
• University of Washington-Seattle Campus - M.S.
• George Washington University - M.A.

Publications

Jonathan M. Karpoff, Allison Koester, D. Scott Lee, and Gerald S. Martin. "Proxies and databases In financial misconduct research." The Accounting Review, 92, 6 (November 2017): 129-163. https://doi.org/10.2308/accr-51766.

Weili Ge, Allison Koester, and Sarah McVay. "Benefits And Costs Of Sarbanes-oxley Section 404(b) Exemption: Evidence From Small Firms’ Internal Control Disclosures." Journal Of Accounting and Economics, 63, 2-3 (April 2017): 358-384. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jacceco.2017.01.001.

Koester, A., T. Shevlin, and D. Wangerin. "The role of managerial ability in corporate tax avoidance." Management Science, 63, 10 (2017): 3285-3310.

Koester, A., Lundholm, R., and M. Soliman. "Attracting attention in a limited attention world: exploring the causes and consequences of positive extreme earnings surprises." Management Science, 62, 10 (2016): 2871-2896.

Choudhary, P., Koester, A., and T. Shevlin. "Measuring income tax accrual quality." Review of Accounting Studies, 21 (2016): 89-139.

Koester, A., Lim, S., and R. Vigeland. "The effect of tax-related material weakness in internal controls on the market valuation of unrecognized tax benefits." Journal of the American Taxation Association, 37, 1 (2015): 129-155.

Awards/Honors/Grants/Patents

40-under-40 Most Outstanding Business School Professors - Poets & Quants 2016 - 2016 Poets & Quants

Poets & Quants Favorite Business School MBA Professors - Poets & Quants 2016 - 2016 Poets & Quants

Georgetown Center for Financial Markets and Policy Research Grant (annual) 2012 - 2016

McDonough School of Business Ronald L. Smith Distinguished Service Award 2014 - 2014

Deloitte Foundation Doctoral Fellowship 2009 - 2009

PricewaterhouseCoopers xFAC Competition (National Winner) 2008 - 2008

University of Washington Arthur and Mary Lorig Scholarship 2006 - 2008