K. Ramesh

K. Ramesh is the Herbert S. Autrey Professor of Accounting at the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University. Ramesh obtained his Ph.D. from Michigan State University and has previously served on the faculties of the business schools at Northwestern University, the University of Rochester, The Pennsylvania State University, and Michigan State University where he was Director of Accounting Doctoral Program. He was an academic fellow at the Office of the Chief Accountant, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission during 2007-8. During his tenure as vice president at two leading economic consulting firms, Ramesh worked with leading law firms, Big-4 audit firms, major corporations and governmental agencies.

His academic research focuses on: (1) Capital market information environment; (2) Role of accounting information in contracting and regulation; and (3) Financial information/disclosures and valuation. His recent research examines the extent of voluntary disclosure of corporate accounting information, the information content of financial reports mandated by securities regulators, the role of newswires and data aggregators in disseminating corporate accounting information to different investors, the interplay between mandatory regulation and voluntary disclosures, and the information content of analyst recommendations. Ramesh has also studied the valuation implications of fair value disclosures by bank holding companies, the determinants of banks’ choice of accounting methods, and design of credit agreements. Ramesh has published in leading academic journals such as The Accounting Review, Review of Accounting Studies, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Journal of Accounting Research, and Journal of Finance. His research was cited in a study conducted by the AAA Research Impact Task Force on the role of academic accounting research on professional practice. He was a member of the Editorial Advisory and Review Board of the Accounting Review. 

Ramesh is Past President of the Financial Accounting and Reporting Section (FARS) of the American Accounting Association. He has interacted with the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on various issues relating to standard setting and disclosure regulation.

Ramesh has won many accolades for his teaching excellence including the Michigan State University Excellence-In-Teaching Citation Award, Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award by the Department of Accounting & Information Systems at MSU, MBA Association Core Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award at Pennsylvania State University, and mentioned in the Business Week Guide to Best Business Schools as an outstanding faculty member at the University of Rochester. He has taught MBA-level courses on financial accounting, financial statement analysis, financial reporting and analysis, corporate governance, and project-based experiential learning, and doctoral seminars on capital markets and agency theory.

Teaching Interests: 

• Financial reporting and corporate governance
• Introduction to accounting research
• Financial statement analysis

Research Interests: 

• Capital market information environment
• Role of accounting information in contracting and regulation
• Financial disclosures and valuation