Brian Ballou

Brian Ballou, Ph.D., CPA has actively taught, researched, and worked with executives in governance, executive leadership, enterprise risk management, business reporting, and assurance in varying capacities since 1996. His graduate-level governance, risk management, and stakeholder reporting course sequence is one of the only courses of its kind in the United States and is taught utilizing a corporate governance perspective. He has conducted executive education courses on enterprise risk management and stakeholder management since 2001. He also has taught, researched, and worked with executives in governance-oriented, business risk based auditing approaches since 1998, including extensive seminars conducted for KPMG throughout the United States each summer since 1999. He also has been an active leader in innovating the MBA curriculum and Department of Accountancy curriculum to evolve both to help develop adaptable, flexible students for the data-driven business environment of the 21st Century.

Academic Background

• Ph.D. Michigan State University, Accounting, 1996
• B.S.B.A. The Ohio State University, Accounting, 1988

Academic & Professional Experience

• EY Professor of Accounting, Miami University (2008-present).
• MBA Faculty Director (2021 - Present)
• Co-Founder, William Isaac & Michael Oxley Center for Business Leadership, Miami University (2006-present)
• Associate Professor, Miami University (2004-2008).
• Visiting Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2003-2003).
• Associate Professor, Auburn University (2002-2003).
• Assistant Professor, Auburn University (1997-2002).
• Visiting Professor/Ph.D. program, Michigan State University (1992-1997).
• Visiting Professor, Grand Valley State University (1996-1996).
• Senior Financial Analyst, Lexis/Nexis (1991-1992).
• Senior Auditor, Ernst & Young (1989-1991).
• Postgraduate Intern, Financial Accounting Standards Board (1988-1989).

Recent Publications

• Ballou, Brian. Crisis Events & Management. A Bloomberg Tax Accounting Policy & Practice Portfolio. 2022. Arlington, VA: Tax Management Inc.
• Ballou, Brian, Jon Grenier, and Andrew Reffett. “Stakeholder Perceptions of Data and Analytics-Based Auditing Techniques.” Accounting Horizons. 2021. Volume 35 (3): 47 – 68.
• Brian Ballou, Dan Heitger, Les Heitger, Jon Pyzoha, and Drew Reffett. œThe Effect of Experience and Client Preferred Outcomes on Accountants™ Loss Valuation Judgments Journal of Forensic Accounting Research. 2020. Forthcoming.
• Chen, Po-Chang, Brian Ballou, Jon Grenier, and Dan Heitger. œSustainability Assurance™s Link to Reporting Quality. Journal of Accountancy. 2019 (October 10). www.journalofaccountnacy.com.
• Ballou, Brian, Po-Chang Chen, Jon Grenier, and Dan Heitger. œCorporate Social Responsibility Assurance and Reporting Quality: Evidence from Restatements. Journal of Accounting & Public Policy. 2018. Volume 27: 167-88.
• Ballou, Brian, Dan Heitger, and Dale Stoel. œData-Driven Decision Making and its Impact on Accounting Undergraduate Curriculum. Journal of Accounting Education. 2018 Vol 44: 14 €" 24.
• Stoel, Dale, Brian Ballou, and Dan Heitger. The Impact of Qualitative and Quantitative Risk Reporting on Risk Professionals™ Strategic and Operational Risk Judgments. Accounting Horizons. December 2017. Vol. 31 (4): 53 €" 69.
• Brian Ballou and Dan Heitger. "Using Financial Technology to Enhance Access to Financial Services for Underserved and Unserved Markets." 2018. KPMG LLP.
• Brian Ballou and Dan Heitger. "Banco Santander: Using FinTech to Compete More Effectively with BBVA." 2018. KPMG LLP.
• Krzsus, Michel, Brian Ballou and Dan Heitger. œThe Economics of Sustainability, June 2013, New York: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (www.aicpa.org/FRC)-Invited white paper by AICPA and reviewed by external experts selected by AICPA.
• Ernst & Young (Craig Faris, Brian Gilbert, and Brendan LeBlanc) and Miami University (Brian Ballou and Dan Heitger). œDemystifying Sustainability Risk: Integrating the Triple Bottom Line into an Enterprise Risk Management Program, May 2013, The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (www.coso.org)-Invited white paper by COSO and reviewed by external experts and COSO members.
• Ballou, Brian, Ryan Casey, Jon Grenier, and Dan Heitger. "Exploring the Perceived Effectiveness of Sustainability Initiatives: Opportunities for Accounting Research."Accounting Horizons. June 2012.Vol. 26 (2): 265-288
• Reffett, Andrew, Billy Brewster, and Brian Ballou. œComparing Auditor versus Non-auditor Assessments of Auditor Liability in Cases of Alleged Auditor Negligence. Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory August 2012, Vol 31 (3): 125-148.
• Stoel, D., Ballou, B., and D. Heitger. 2011. Board of Director Perceptions of Risk Management Information: Analysis of COSO's Strengthening Enterprise Risk Management for Strategic Advantage. Forthcoming in Management Accounting Quarterly.
• Ballou, Brian and Dan L. Heitger. "Tapping a Risky Labor Pool" Harvard Business Review, December 2006, 28 - 30.
• Ballou, Brian, Dan Heitger, and Charles Landes. "The Future of Corporate Sustainability Reporting: A Rapidly-Growing Assurance Opportunity." Journal of Accountancy December 2006, 65 - 74.
• Ballou, Brian, Christine Earley, and Jay Rich, "The Impact of Strategic Positioning Evaluation on Auditor Judgments about Business Process Performance," Auditing: A Journal of Practice &Theory 23 (September) 2004, 71-88.
• Ballou, Brian, Norman Godwin, and Rebecca Shortridge, "The Relation between Firm Value and Quality of Work Life," Accounting Horizons 17 (December) 2003, 329-341.
• Ballou, Brian, "The Relationship between Auditor Characteristics and the Nature of Review Notes for Analytical Procedure Working Papers," Behavioral Research in Accounting 13, 2001, pp. 25-48.
• Haka, Susan, Joan Luft, and Brian Ballou, "Second-Order Uncertainty and Bilateral Bargaining Costs: Process Knowledge and Uncertainty Reduction," Journal of Managerial Accounting Research 12, 2000, pp. 115-139.
• Luft, Joan, Susan Haka, and Brian Ballou, "Bargaining Strategy and Information about Opponent's Payoffs: Bargaining in a Hall of Mirrors," Behavioral Research in Accounting, Supplement 1998. pp. 111-140.

Honors & Awards

• Awarded 2014 Outstanding Educator (Cincy Magazine).
• Named the EY Professor of Accountancy at Miami University's Farmer School of Business, Fall 2009.
• Commissioned to write a series of white papers (co-authored with Dan Heitger) for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations to help them continue to evolve the emerging fields of enterprise risk management and sustainability reporting, which have been two areas of my research specialty for over a decade. 2013-2015.
• Presented at the Prince of Wales Accounting for Sustainability Forum, St. James's Palace in London, on the state of sustainability in the United States. The Forum included over 200 global accounting, business, and political leaders, including the event's host, HRH Prince Charles; 2008.

Professional Interests

• Research:Published and ongoing research examines the interrelationship between corporate governance, strategy, business processes, resiliency/risk management, performance measurement, stakeholder engagement, business reporting, and assurance.
• Teaching: The role of governance, executive leadership, and industry expertise in executing strategy and their impact on performance measurement, financial and sustainability reporting, and assurance & advisory services.

Areas of Expertise

• Business reporting
• Corporate governance
• Enterprise risk management