Accounting Professor Kitto Honored with PCAOB Fellowship

Andrew Kitto, an assistant professor in Isenberg’s accounting department, was selected as an Economic Research Fellow at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), the regulatory body that oversees the audits of public companies.

The PCAOB’s economic research fellowship program is intended to generate high quality, publishable economic research on topics that are of direct relevance to the group’s mission: protecting investors and promoting the preparation of informative, accurate, and independent audit reports.

Dr. Kitto spent the fall 2018 semester traveling to Washington, D.C., to conduct research for several projects that he proposed to the board related to market structure, competition, and concentration in the U.S. audit market. Among these projects is his dissertation examining the effects of audit firm mergers on audit efficiency and audit market competition.

While in D.C., Dr. Kitto has the opportunity to engage closely with PCAOB staff and serve as a valuable resource to staff economists. His time there will also give him first-hand experience dealing with the most pressing issues facing the profession so he can bring a more complete perspective into the classroom at Isenberg.