Steven Balsam

Steven Balsam, Professor of Accounting and Senior Merves Research Fellow at the Fox School of Business at Temple University, obtained his Ph.D. from the City University of New York (Baruch College) in 1991. His research interests are executive compensation, earnings management, and capital markets. He has written several books on executive compensation including Executive Compensation: An Introduction to Practice and Theory, and an AICPA self study course, Accounting for Stock Options and Other Stock-Based Compensation, he has published articles in academic journals including The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Contemporary Accounting Research, Review of Accounting Studies, Journal of the American Taxation Association, Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory, Accounting Horizons, Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Finance, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Journal of Financial Reporting and Journal of Corporate Finance; and practitioner journals including the Journal of Accountancy and The Tax Adviser. Professor Balsam is also a member of the editorial boards of Accounting Horizons and the Journal of Accounting and Public Policy. He has been widely quoted in the media and has given expert witness testimony on executive compensation to the United States Senate Committee on Finance. Prior to coming to Temple University he taught at Baruch College and the University of Rochester. Before entering academia he was a Certified Public Accountant working for the international accounting firm of Ernst & Young.

Sample Publications

• Nonprofit Executive Incentive Pay (with Erica Harris) Review of Accounting Studies, December 2018, Volume 23, Issue 4, pp 1665–1714
• Creditor Influence and CEO Compensation: Evidence from Debt Covenant Violations (with Yuqi Gu and Connie Mao) The Accounting Review September 2018.
• The Determinants and Performance Impact of Outside Board Leadership (with John Puthenpurackal and Arun Upadhyay), Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis August 2016: 51(4): 1325-1358
• The impact of CEO compensation on nonprofit donations (with Erica Harris) The Accounting Review March 2014: 89(2): 425-450.
• Equity Incentives and Internal Control Weaknesses (with Wei Jiang and Bo Lu) Contemporary Accounting Research, Spring 2014: 31(1);178-201.

Awards and Honors

• SPO Faculty Award, Temple University, Fox School of Business, Joint award of ASCEND, Beta Alpha Psi, Fox Accounting Association, Institute of Management Accountants, National Association of Black Accountants, 2019
• Musser Award for Faculty Service, Temple University, Fox School of Business, 2018
• Impact Award (for Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program), Temple University, Fox School of Business, 2017.
• 2007 Musser Excellence in Leadership Award in Research, Temple University
• Fox School of Business Research Roundtable, 2004-present
• Merves Research Fellow, Temple University, Fox School of Business, 2000-2005
• Merves Senior Research Fellow, 2005-present.
• Research Honor Roll, Temple University, Fox School of Business, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008.

Teaching

• Financial Accounting Theory (PhD)
• Intermediate Accounting (BBA)
• Co-op Experience in Accounting