Faculty & Research

Sugata Roychowdhury

Associate Professor of Accounting

Biography | Publications

Professor Roychowdhury's primary research interests are in strategic financial reporting and disclosure, and accounting conservatism. He has investigated how managers alter real operational activities in order to meet accounting targets, and how managers respond to perceived or actual investor sentiment via their voluntary disclosure choices to maintain optimistic firm valuations. His most recent work in strategic reporting/disclosure investigates whether firms contributing to political candidates use their accounting information as a form of political currency in congressional elections. Professor Roychowdhury is also interested in the origins and implications of accounting conservatism, and has studied how shareholder-manager agency conflicts generate a demand for conservatism. He has examined the role of accounting conservatism in explaining earnings-returns relations and the market-to-book ratio, widely used in both finance and accounting as a measure of growth opportunities. His current research in conservatism highlights its influence on managerial actions to abandon loss-making projects, and the consequent implications for earnings' time-series properties. In related research, he is also examining the role of earnings in countering the asymmetric incentives of managers to disclose good news early and delay disclosure of bad news.

Web Site: http://www.mit.edu/~sugatarc/