Broad hosts prestigious conference bridging finance and accounting research

The Departments of Finance and Accounting and Information Systems recently co-organized the 35^th Conference on Financial Economics and Accounting (CFEA), held Nov. 6–8, 2025, in East Lansing. Approximately 170 leading scholars from around the world gathered to pursue a shared commitment to advancing rigorous, cross-disciplinary research.

CFEA annual conferences are highly selective. Organized by a consortium representing Georgia State University, Indiana University, Michigan State University, New York University, Rutgers University, Temple University, Tulane University, University at Buffalo, and University of Toronto, the conferences serve as premier venues for presenting cutting-edge research on the theory and practice of business, focusing on the intersection of financial economics and accounting.

Broad faculty were strongly represented on the highly selective program, curated by a distinguished committee of about 160 leaders in the fields of financial economics and accounting. Broad scholars co-authored 11 of the 54 papers appearing on the program, appearing alongside colleagues from many of the world’s most respected business schools, including Boston College, Harvard University, London Business School, Ohio State University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Texas, Washington University in St. Louis, and Yale University. Broad College leadership gave further depth to the conference.

David Souder, the Eli and Edythe L. Broad Dean of the Broad College of Business and a leading scholar on corporate short-termism, strategic investment, and organizational time horizons, announced the finance keynote speaker, Lauren Cohen, the L.E. Simmons Professor at Harvard Business School. Souder reflected on Cohen’s many contributions and remarked that “his research has reshaped how we think about information, incentives, and the ways financial systems respond, or sometimes fail to respond, to human motives.” In his keynote address, Cohen provided state-of-the-art insights regarding the role of artificial intelligence and machine learning in identifying predictable components of economic agents’ behavior and actions.

John Hollenbeck, associate dean for research and doctoral programs and the Eli Broad University Professor of Business, a trail-blazing scholar whose prolific work on team decision-making, self-regulation, work motivation, and separation/acquisition processes has shaped thinking across management and organizational behavior, announced the accounting keynote speaker, Elizabeth Blankespoor, the Marguerite Reimers Endowed Faculty Fellowship at the Foster School of Business, University of Washington. Hollenbeck described her as “one of the leading empirical researchers at the intersection of financial accounting, information economics, and technology, whose studies have advanced our understanding of how emerging information technologies—from social media to algorithmic news dissemination—affect the efficiency and transparency of capital markets.” Blankespoor’s keynote address focused on the ways in which generative AI both facilitates disclosure in capital markets and enhances the ability of those markets to absorb and interpret the disclosed information.

Also in attendance was Ranjani Ananthakrishnan, associate dean for faculty and administration and the Ernest W. & Robert W. Schaberg Endowed Chair in Accounting. Renowned for her work on managerial accounting, especially on cost behavior, performance systems, and healthcare applications, Ananthakrishnan noted that she not only “… attended many of the sessions and was very impressed by the quality of the presentations and discussions” but also met many of Broad’s previous Ph.D. students, a testament to the excellence of Broad graduate education.

Isabel Wang, chairperson of the Department of Accounting and Information Systems and the Deloitte/Michael Licata Professor in Accounting, captured the spirit of the CFEA: “One of the aims of the CFEA is building bridges across academic domains. Today, we bring finance and accounting into the conversation. Tomorrow, who knows what further connections we may uncover!”

Andrei Simonov, chairperson of the Department of Finance and the Frederick S. Addy Distinguished Chair in Finance, offered a fitting summary: “The CFEA embodies what we strive for in academic research—rigorous inquiry that crosses disciplinary boundaries. By co-hosting this year’s conference with our colleagues in the Department of Accounting and Information Systems, we demonstrated how finance and accounting scholars can work together to address the complex challenges shaping global markets and corporate decision-making.”