Deniz Appelbaum

DR. APPELBAUM, Assistant Professor of the Department of Accounting and Finance at the Feliciano School of Business, received her PhD from the Department of Accounting and Information Systems at Rutgers Business School, Newark in May 2017. She enriches her academic pursuits with a practical view, after twenty years of experience in operations, credit, and business development in the corporate world.
Dr. Appelbaum has published manuscripts in Accounting Horizons, Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting, and in other academic and practitioner journals, based on her research regarding analytics, big data, and automation in financial auditing and accounting. Prior to teaching at Montclair State, her graduate research at Rutgers focused on financial fraud detection and prevention with automated analytics, data transparency of governmental financial reporting, analytical procedures in the external audit process, drones and robotics in auditing and accounting, and blockchain and big data as audit evidence. Dr. Appelbaum continues to emphasize these streams of research with numerous projects and forthcoming publications, and with presentations at accounting organizations and at national and international conferences. Dr. Appelbaum emphasizes the use of data analytics and appropriate software tools in the classroom, to prepare accounting and auditing students for the technically advanced modern business environment. The accounting and auditing professions are currently undergoing huge disruptions due to technical innovations, and Dr. Appelbaum is devoted to assisting her students to prepare for these changes.

Expertise

Auditing, analytics, Big Data, drones/robotics, data provenance/security, open government data, data transparency, XBRL

Education

• Ph D, Accounting Information Systems, 2017, Rutgers School of Business, Newark, NJ
• MBA, Professional Accounting, 2012, Rutgers School of Business, Newark, NJ
• BA, German, 1985, The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.

Consulting

• Technical/Professional Work, Dronnovation, . (May 2017 - Present). Research initiative regarding the use of drones for auditing and accounting. The name and logo are currently are trademarked.

Honors and Awards

• AIS 2020 MYM Public Interest Section Best Paper Award , American Accounting Association. (January 2020).
• Beyond the Numbers - Felicianobiz feature , feliciano School of Business.
• New Jersey Bright Idea Award/Accounting , NJCBAA/Seton Hall School of Business-Seton University. (November 2019).
• SET Section 2019 Educator of the Year , SET Section of the AAA. (August 2019).
• 2018 Outstanding Dissertation Award , AAA SET Section.
• 2018 Best Paper Award , SET section of the AAA. (January 2018).
• Best PhD Student Paper Award , American Accounting Association. SET Section Workshop. (August 2013).

Research

• Analytics and Visualization for Scanning - behavioral research in progress
• AutoML for the prediction of financial misstatements
• Blockchain and Saving Local Businesses of the City
• Ethics and the use of AI during the Pandemic
• Guided Expert Systems for Auditor Risk Assessment - experimental research using IDEA at the KPMG University - work in progress
• Machine Learning analysis of news headlines for bankruptcy prediction
• MF Global - Audit classroom case study - work in progress
• News Headlines for prediction of Bankruptcy
• The End of Auditing - co-authoring a book/collection of discussion pieces where auditing will need to change if it is to survive the technology age
• “Expert Knowledge Elicitations in a Procurement Card Context: A Visual Expert Dashboard”, with Abdullah Al-Awadhi and Miklos A. Vasarhelyi, (status: under revision at the Journal of Accounting Information Systems)

Refereed Published Articles

• Appelbaum, D., Vasarhelyi, M., Alzamil, Z. (2021). Applications of Data Analytics: Cluster Analysis of Not-for-Profit Data. Journal of Information Systems,
• Appelbaum, D., Tojiboyev, N., Kogan, A., Vasarhelyi, M. (2021). Basics of SQL for Audit Data Retrieval and Analysis. Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting,
• Appelbaum, D., Ilyias, H., Anwar, A., Yaqub, U., Alzamil, Z. (2021). Analysis and visualization of COVID-19 discourse on Twitter using Data Science: A case study of USA, UK and India. Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication,
• Appelbaum, D., Lee, L. (2021). Blockchains: An Experiential Learning Activity. Journal of Emerging Technology in Accounting,
• Albizri, A., Appelbaum, D. (2021). Trust but Verify: Auditing and the Oracle Paradox of Blockchain Smart Contracts. Journal of Information Systems,
• Appelbaum, D., Schowalter, D., Sun, T., Vasarhelyi, M. (2020). A Framework for Auditor Data Literacy: A Normative Position. Accounting Horizons,
• Appelbaum, D., Alzamil, Z., Nehmer, R. (2020). An Ontological Methodology for Classifying Social Media: Text Mining Analysis for Financial Data. The International Journal of Information Systems,
• Albizri, A., Appelbaum, D., Rizzotto, N. (2019). Evaluation of Financial Statements Fraud Detection Research: A Multi-disciplinary Analysis. International Journal of Disclosure and Governance - Springer/Palgrave Macmillan,
• Appelbaum, D. (2019). Commentary on this special issue of Advances in Audit Analytics. International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, pp. 2.
• Appelbaum, D., Nehmer, R. Auditing Cloud-based Blockchain Accounting Systems. Journal of Information Systems,
• Kozlowski, S., Issa, H., Appelbaum, D. (2018). Making Government Data Valuable for Constituents: The Case for the Advanced Data Analytics Capabilities of the ENHANCE Framework. Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting, Volume 15 (Issue 1), pp. 155-167.
• Appelbaum, D., Stein-Smith, S. (2018). Blockchain Basics and Hands-on Guidance. The CPA Journal, (June 2018), pp. 28-37.
• Appelbaum, D., Kogan, A., Vasarhelyi, M. (2018). Analytical Procedures in External Auditing: A Comprehensive Literature Survey and Framework for External Audit Analytics. Journal of Accounting Literature/Elsevier, 40 (June 2018), pp. 83-101.
• Appelbaum, D., Nehmer, R. (2017). The Coming Disruption of Drones, Robots, and Bots: How Will It Affect CPAs and Accounting Practice?. CPA Journal, June 2017 pp. 40-44.
• Appelbaum, D., Kogan, A., Vasarhelyi, M., Yan, Z. (2017). Impact of business analytics and enterprise systems on managerial accounting. International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, 25 (May 2017), pp. 29–44.
• Appelbaum, D., Vasarhelyi, M., Kogan, A. (2017). Introduction to Data Analysis for Auditors and Accountants. The CPA Journal, (February 2017), pp. 32-37.
• Appelbaum, D., Nehmer, R. (2017). Using Drones in Internal and External Audits: An Exploratory Framework. Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting, 14 (1), pp. 99–113.
• Appelbaum, D., Kogan, A., Vasarhelyi, M. (2017). Big Data and analytics in the modern audit engagement: Research needs. Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory, 36 (4), pp. 1-27.
• Appelbaum, D. (2016). Securing Big Data Provenance for Auditors: The Big Data Provenance Black Box as Reliable Evidence. Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting, 13 (1), pp. 17–36.
• Zhang, J., Yang, X., Appelbaum, D. (2015). Toward effective Big Data analysis in continuous auditing. Accounting Horizons, 29 (2), pp. 469–476.
• Appelbaum, D., Kozlowski, S., Vasarhelyi, M., White, J. (2014). Designing CA/CM to fit not-for-profit organizations. Managerial Auditing Journal, 31 (1), pp. 87–110.

Books & Chapters Published

Appelbaum, D. (2021). Ch 8 - Consensus Mechanisms and related Issues. (pp. 464). : Emerald.