Course objective and motivation

The purpose of this course is to provide participants with a better understanding, both conceptual and practical, of a wide range of econometric tools and procedures that are relevant to accounting research. The course should be of interest to anyone who intends to apply quantitative research methods in a broad range of accounting research (financial, managerial, auditing, ESG/sustainability, etc.).

After successfully completing introductory econometrics courses, many academics often need more practical knowledge and experience to be able to apply the concepts to accounting research settings. For example, although many well-trained academics are familiar with the theoretical notion of “endogeneity” and are aware of the econometric methods that are available to deal with this issue, such knowledge is typically helpful only when we truly understand the nature of our data, the underlying problem that we aim to solve, and the boundaries of the methods in addressing the problem.

Using a variety of recent academic papers and example datasets in Stata, this course is designed to help participants better (i) appreciate the relevance of textbook econometric methods for accounting research, (ii) understand how to apply these methods in accounting research, and, perhaps most importantly, (iii) understand and recognize the limitations of these methods. Along the way, we will also explore the benefits of simulation analyses, which often help to make the common econometric problems, and the potential solutions, much easier to understand than the math.

Course instructor