Beatrice Michaeli

Beatrice Michaeli is a Visiting Associate Professor of Accounting at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Michaeli’s research addresses analytical models in the areas of corporate governance, financial reporting, voluntary disclosure, performance measurement, incentives and contracting. She aspires to present the world in neat economic models that allow addressing important practical problems and provide useful recommendations to firms and regulators. Part of her recent work empirically tests the constructed models in practice.

Whereas her research hinges on analytical models, in the classroom she draws from concrete case studies. She encourages students to observe a problematic situation and think of a solution. Sometimes there’s not one super solution; students need to consider under what circumstances one or another option is better. At the very least, she expects them to learn to ask the right questions, to be critical of the default practices that are often applied in corporations, and to strive to make better decisions.

Bulgarian-born and raised in a family of judges and lawyers, Michaeli initially pursued a law degree in Bulgaria, followed by an advanced law degree in Israel, where she learned Hebrew in six months and embarked on a career in prosecution of white-collar crimes. A change of heart led her to pursue another advanced degree with finance and accounting as major interests.

Michaeli holds an LLM and an MBA from Tel Aviv University, as well as an MSc and a PhD from Columbia University.

In her free time, she likes to socialize with friends, travel, mentor, swim, run and practice yoga.