S.P. Kothari

Faculty

S.P. Kothari

Support Staff

Get in Touch

Title

About

Academic Groups

Academic Area

S.P. Kothari is Gordon Y Billard Professor of Accounting and Finance at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Professor Kothari has senior executive experience in government, academia, and industry with expertise in strategic and policy issues, securities regulation, auditing, and corporate governance. Most recently, he served as Chief Economist and Director of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis at the US Securities and Exchange Commission from 2019 to 2021.

In academia, Kothari was Deputy Dean of MIT Sloan School of Management (2010-15), and previously headed the Department of Economics, Finance and Accounting at MIT Sloan. In addition, he Co-Chaired the Board of Governors of Asia School of Business, Kuala Lumpur, served as faculty director of the MIT-India Program, and edited the world-renowned academic publication Journal of Accounting & Economics.

In 2008-09, Kothari was global head of equity research for Barclays Global Investors (acquired by BlackRock). The actively managed equity portfolio had in excess of $100 billion in assets, and the research team was comprised of approximately 50 PhDs based in San Francisco, London, and Sydney. Kothari served as a director of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) (2015-19); currently he serves on the boards of Velan Studios and EbixCash; and he has consulted extensively on valuation and reporting, corporate governance, risk management, auditing, and management compensation. 

Kothari is a recipient of numerous awards for his scholarship, including India’s Padma Shri award in 2020, Honorary Doctorates from London Business School, University of Cyprus, and University of Technology, Sydney, and the American Accounting Association’s Distinguished Contributions to the Accounting Literature award.  

Kothari received his BS in egineering from the Birla Institute of Technology & Science and his MBA (PGDM) from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.He earned his PhD from the University of Iowa.

Honors

Kothari joins SEC

American Accounting Association honors S.P. Kothari

Kothari given Padma Shri Award

S.P. Kothari receives honorary doctorate

Publications

"Flight-to-Earnings: The Role of Earnings in Periods of Capital Scarcity."

Guest, Nicholas, M., S.P. Kothari, and Eric C. So. Management Science Vol. 69, No. 8 (2023): 4908-4931. SSRN Preprint.

"Disclosure Regulation: Past, Present, and Future."

Kothari, S.P., Liandong Zhang, and Luo Zuo. In Handbook of Financial Decision Making, 215-234. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2023.

"Share Repurchases on Trial: Large-Sample Evidence on Market Outcomes, Executive Compensation, and Corporate Finances."

Guest, Nicholas, S.P. Kothari, and Parth Venkat. Financial Management Vol. 52, No. 1 (2023): 19-40. SSRN Preprint.

"Why Do Large Positive Non-GAAP Earnings Adjustments Predict Abnormally High CEO Pay?"

Guest, Nicholas, S.P. Kothari, and Robert C. Pozen. The Accounting Review Vol. 97, No. 6 (2022): 297-326. SSRN Preprint.

"Ideas for Designing an Affordable New Educational Institution."

Diana Henderson, Daniel Jackson, David Kaiser, S.P. Kothari, and Sanjay Sharma. Cambridge, MA: September 2022.

"Industry-Specific Knowledge Transfer in Audit Firms: Evidence from Audit Firm Mergers in China."

He, Xianjie, S.P. Kothari, Tusheng Xiao, and Luo Zuo. The Accounting Review Vol. 97, No. 3 (2022): 249-277. SSRN Preprint.

Load More

Recent Insights

Press

S.P. Kothari named to SEC Division of Economic and Risk Analysis

S.P. Kothari, Professor of Management and former deputy dean, was appointed chief economist and director of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Read Article
Ideas Made to Matter

MIT Sloan experts map economy in year one of Trump presidency

Major changes to business in 2017, and what to expect as Trump administration heads into its second year.

Read Article

Media Highlights

Load More