Tulane professor seeks the science behind accounting

Accounting may be a profession mostly involving numbers, but for Lynn Hannan, a professor of accounting at theA. B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University, factors such as psychology, sociology, and economics should also be a top priority.

“I was interested in how we can improve accounting to help people make better decisions,” she told Tulane's website, focusing on the psychology behind employees and incentive systems.

Hannan's research delves into how theories from behavioral disciplines impact people’s judgment, aimed at helping companies design accounting systems that encourage employees to make high-quality choices.

Hannan came to Tulane University in 2013 with more than a decade of teaching and research experience. In 2006, while at Georgia State University, the American Accounting Association awarded Hannan its highest honor in academic accounting, the Notable Contributions to Accounting Literature Award, for her research in managerial accounting. Hannan is also serving her first semester in her new role as the inaugural Ernst & Young Professor in Accounting at Tulane.

During her experiences at Westinghouse Electric Corp.’s financial services subsidiary, Hannan noticed that the way transactions are accounted for caused smart people to make decisions that ultimately were bad for the company.

After earning her PhD in 2000 from the University of Pittsburgh, Hannan dove into her research, focusing on three main areas: improving honesty in the budgeting process, improving the motivation and performance of employees, and identifying how risk affects components of the control system.

“I am more passionate than ever about my research,” Hannan stated. “Creating and disseminating knowledge [is] what brings me joy.”

For more information on Professor Hannan, head to Tulane's sitehere.