Ken Bills

Ken Bills is an Associate Professor, Plante Moran Faculty Fellow, and Faculty Director of MS Programs in Accounting in the Eli Broad College of Business. Prior to joining the Accounting & Information Systems Department, Ken was an Associate Professor and Doris M. Cook Chair in Accounting at the University of Arkansas and an Assistant Professor at Colorado State University. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a PhD in accounting in 2012. Ken teaches advanced auditing in the M.S. in Accounting program and has previously taught audit and assurance services for undergraduates. He is a Certified Public Accountant in Utah and worked as a senior auditor for Tanner in Salt Lake City, Utah prior to joining academia. Ken currently serves as an Editor for Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory. His research has been published in The Accounting Review, Contemporary Accounting Research, Review of Accounting Studies, Accounting, Organizations, and Society, and Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory. 

Bills, K. L., R. Cating., C. Lin, and T. A. Seidel. 2025. The spillover effect of SEC comment letters through audit firms. Review of Accounting Studies 30: 311-351.Bills, K. L., R. Hua-Wei Huang, Yi-Hung Lin, and David Wood. 2024. The impact of chief audit executive turnover in Taiwan. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy 46: 1-26.Bills, K. L., M. Harding, T. A. Seidel, and M. Truelson. 2024. The influence of turnover among other top executives on financial reporting risk. Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory 43 (2): 43–72.Prentice, J. D., K. Bills, and G. F. Peters. 2023. The impact of benefit plan audits on the financial statement audit. Accounting Horizons 37 (2): 161-187.Ahn, J., H. Akamah, K. Bills, and K. K. Saunders. 2022. Accounting firm associations and audit firm growth. Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory 41 (3): 45-65.Bills, K. L., C. Hayne, S. E. Stein. 2021. Collaborating with competitors: How do small firm accounting associations and networks successfully manage coopetitive tensions? Contemporary Accounting Research 38 (1): 545-585.Zimmerman, A. B., K. L. Bills, and M. Causholli. 2021. The market premium for audit partners with Big 4 experience. Accounting Horizons 35 (2): 193-217.Bills, K. L., M. Cobabe, J. Pittman, and S. E. Stein. 2020. To share or not to share: The importance of peer firm similarity to auditor choice. Accounting, Organizations and Society 83: 1-24.Bills, K. L., C. Hayne, S. E. Stein. 2018. A field study on small accounting firm membership in associations and networks: Implications for audit quality. The Accounting Review 93 (5): 73-96.Bills, K. L., L. L. Lisic, T. A. Seidel. 2017. Do CEO succession and succession planning affect stakeholders' perceptions of financial reporting risk? Evidence from audit fees. The Accounting Review 92 (4): 27-52.Bills, K. L., L. M. Cunningham, and L. A. Myers. 2016. Small audit firm membership in associations, networks, and alliances: Implications for audit quality and audit fees. The Accounting Review 91 (3): 767-792.Bills, K. L., Q. T. Swanquist, and R. L. Whited. 2016. Growing pains: Audit quality and office growth. Contemporary Accounting Research 33 (1): 288-313.Bills, K. L., and N. M. Stephens. 2016. Spatial competition at the intersection of the large and small audit firm markets. Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory 35 (1): 23-45.Bills, K. L., L. M. Cunningham. 2015. How small audit firm membership in associations, networks, and alliances can impact audit quality and audit fees. Current Issues in Auditing 9 (2): 29-35.
Bills, K. L., R. Glasscock, and D. Johnston. 2015. The capital market pricing of suspended exploratory well costs. Oil, Gas & Energy Quarterly 64 (2): 173-182.Bills, K. L., S. E. Stein, and D. C. Jeter. 2015. Auditor industry specialization and evidence of cost efficiencies in homogenous industries. The Accounting Review 90 (5): 1721-1754.