Isenberg Faculty Member to Serve as Economic Fellow at Accounting Oversight Board

Matthew Sherwood, an assistant professor in Isenberg’s department of accounting, has been named an Economic Fellow for 2020-2021 by the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). Sherwood will work under the PCAOB’s chief economist on projects supporting development of the board’s long-term strategic plan. Created in 2002 through the Sarbanes-Oxley Act as a nonprofit corporation, the board protects investors through its oversight of audits of public (and other) issuers of securities. In audits of public companies, PCAOB is the both the regulator and standard setter. Think of the board as “the SEC of financial auditing,” advises Department of Accounting Chair David Piercey.

“I expect to focus on the integration of data analytics into the financial statement audit,” notes Sherwood. “That overlaps with my undergrad financial statement audit course and master's data analytics course.” The fellowship, he continues, “will allow me to tailor my courses to ensure that students are learning about timely, relevant topics. From a research perspective, it will allow me to work with proprietary PCAOB data and give me a first-hand view of the PCAOB inspection process. That will inform and strengthen my own research projects.”

Isenberg’s accounting faculty is internationally renowned for its financial statement auditing research, emphasizes Piercey. Sherwood’s PCAOB fellowship and an earlier one awarded to Isenberg Assistant Professor Andrew Kitto are testaments to the department’s reputation. “The board,” underscores Piercey, “awards only two or three fellowships each year. We are in elite company!”