Mary Barth

Research Statement

Professor Mary Barth’s research focuses on financial accounting and reporting issues, particularly topics of interest to accounting standard setters. Such topics include using fair values in financial reporting, stock-based compensation, recognition versus disclosure, asset securitizations, asset revaluations, the information roles of accruals and cash flows, the relation between financial statement quality and cost of capital, and issues related to global financial reporting and convergence.

Bio

Mary E. Barth is the Joan E. Horngren Professor of Accounting at the Stanford University, Graduate School of Business (GSB).  Prior to joining the faculty at Stanford in 1995, she was an Associate Professor at Harvard Business School and an audit partner in Arthur Andersen & Co.  Professor Barth’s research is published in a variety of journals and has won several awards, including the American Accounting Association’s (AAA) Notable Contributions to Accounting Literature Award, the AAA’s Competitive Manuscript Award, and, on three occasions each, the AAA/Deloitte Wildman Medal Award and the Best Paper Award of the Financial Accounting and Reporting Section of the AAA.

She is Senior Editor of The Accounting Review and has previously served as an Editor.  She has been the Accounting Department Editor of Management Science and Co-editor of the Journal of Financial Reporting, and served on the Editorial Boards of several other academic journals.  Professor Barth is a recipient of the GSB’s MBA Distinguished Teaching Award, MSx Teaching Excellence Award, PhD Faculty Distinguished Service Award, and Robert J. Davis Award for a lifetime of service as a GSB faculty member.  She served as a Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the GSB from 2002 until 2009. 

Professor Barth was a member of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) from its inception in 2001 until 2009.  She served as the Academic Advisor to the IASB from 2009 until 2011.  Prior to joining the IASB, Professor Barth’s accounting standard setting activities included serving as a member of the Accounting Standards Executive Committee of the American Institute of CPAs and the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council of the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

Professor Barth was President of the AAA in 2013-2014 and has served as its Vice President and as Chair of several AAA committees.  She also has served as Vice President of the International Association for Accounting Education and Research.  Professor Barth is a recipient of the AAA’s Outstanding Educators Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the AAA’s Financial Accounting and Reporting Section, the Outstanding International Accounting Educator Award of the AAA’s International Section, and is an Honorary Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne, Australia and was an Extraordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria, South Africa.  She served on the External Audit Committee of the International Monetary Fund, including as its chair.  Professor Barth holds an AB from Cornell University, an MBA from Boston University, a PhD from Stanford University, and DSc(HC)s from Lancaster University and London Business School.

Academic Degrees

• DSc(HC), Lancaster University, 2008
• PhD, Stanford University, 1989
• MBA, Boston University, 1975
• AB, Cornell University, 1973

Academic Appointments

• At Stanford since 1995
• Associate Professor, Harvard Business School, 1989-95

Professional Experience

• Audit Partner, Arthur Andersen & Co., 1974-85
• CPA, 1976

Awards and Honors

• Outstanding Accounting Educator Award, American Accounting Association, 2017
• R. Michael and Mary Shanahan Faculty Fellow, 2017-2018
• Deloitte Foundation 2016 Wildman Medal Award
• BP Faculty Fellow in Global Management for 2014-2015
• Notable Contributions to Accounting Literature Award, American Accounting Association/American Institute of CPAs, 2012
• Deloitte Wildman Medal Award, American Accounting Association, 1996 & 2009
• Competitive Manuscript Award, American Accounting Association, 1993
• Robert J. Davis Award, Stanford University Graduate School of Business, 2013
• PhD Faculty Distinguished Service Award, Stanford Graduate School of Business, 2006
• MBA Distinguished Teaching Award, Stanford Graduate School of Business, 1996
• Outstanding International Accounting Educator Award, American Accounting Association - International Accounting Section, 2008

Teaching

Degree Courses

2018-19

ACCT 612: Financial Reporting Seminar

The purpose of this PhD seminar is to facilitate your conception and execution of substantive individual research in financial reporting. It provides a vehicle for supplementing and integrating your knowledge of basic research tools and methods,...

2017-18

ACCT 311: Global Financial Reporting

This course is designed to enhance students'' understanding of current financial reporting issues through a detailed analysis and comparison of U.S. and International Financial Reporting Standards. The course will cover the development of...

ACCT 612: Financial Reporting Seminar

The purpose of this PhD seminar is to facilitate your conception and execution of substantive individual research in financial reporting. It provides a vehicle for supplementing and integrating your knowledge of basic research tools and methods,...

2016-17

ACCT 612: Financial Reporting Seminar

The purpose of this PhD seminar is to facilitate your conception and execution of substantive individual research in financial reporting. It provides a vehicle for supplementing and integrating your knowledge of basic research tools and methods,...

In the Media

The Truth About Stock Options

CBS MarketWatch, January 2006

Accountants Among 100 Most Influential People in Finance

AccountingWEB, July 27, 2005

100 Most Influential People in Finance

Treasury & Risk Management, July 1, 2005

Q&A With IASB Member Mary Barth

California CPA, July 2, 2003

Expert in Stock Option Accounting Thrust from Academia into Limelight

San Jose Mercury News, September 7, 2002

Options Must Be Treated as Expenses, Global Panel Says

Washington Post, August 16, 2002

Accountant Discovers Efforts Don't Add Up

Los Angeles Times, August 2, 2000

Insights by Stanford Business

writtenEuropean Investors Favor Global Accounting Standards

October 1, 2006

Despite an uproar from corporations, new financial reporting rules actually favored by shareholders, research shows.