Merle Erickson

Merle Erickson is Professor of Accounting at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago.

Professor Erickson has taught “Taxes and Business Strategy” in the Booth MBA program for more than twenty years. Erickson earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from Rockhurst College in 1987, an MBA in 1989 from Arizona State University, and a PhD in accounting from the University of Arizona in 1996. He joined the Chicago Booth faculty in 1996.

He has published numerous articles in a variety of top academic journals (e.g., Journal of Accounting Research, The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting and Economics,). He has been given several awards from the American Taxation Association for his research and teaching. He has received the Outstanding Manuscript Award (twice) as well as an award for teaching innovation. He also has been named one of BusinessWeek's Outstanding Faculty at the University of Chicago. He is the author/editor of the casebook, Cases in Tax Strategy. In addition to teaching graduate students at Chicago Booth, Erickson has taught courses to Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, General Electric Capital Corporation, Baker McKenzie, Andersen Consulting, Accenture, CareerBuilder, and the IMCA (Investment Management Consultants Association) among others. From 2005-2011, he served as a co-editor of the Journal of Accounting Research.

Over the course of his career, Erickson has consulted on complex GAAP and tax accounting issues (e.g., debt versus equity, FIN 48 and ASC 740 related issues, intercompany accounting and consolidation, employee stock option accounting) in a variety of contexts (e.g., bankruptcy, mergers and acquisitions, inversions, structured finance, investment planning, cross border and intercompany financing, tax sharing agreements, and various types of tax advantaged transactions). His clients have included, among others, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Internal Revenue Service, Fortune 500 companies in various industries, international financial institutions including investment banks, law firms, accounting firms, and individual taxpayers.

In addition to his scholarly activities, Erickson is an avid fisherman. He received the Angler Award from the Billfish Foundation in 2003 for releasing the most striped marlin worldwide that year.