Patricia M. Dechow

Patricia Dechow is the Robert R. Dockson Professor of Business Administration and a professor of accounting at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.

One of the leading and most highly cited accounting researchers in the nation, Dechow research interests include accounting accruals, understanding the quality of earnings and non-GAAP earnings exclusions.  She is also interested in understanding the role of corporations in supporting social movements. Her work has appeared in many journals and includes The Accounting Review, Review of Accounting Studies, Contemporary Accounting Research, and Journal of Accounting and Economics.  Dechow received the American Accounting Association’s Seminal Contribution to Accounting Literature Award in 2019, the AAA Distinguished Contribution to Accounting Literature awards in 2010 and 2015, and the FARS Distinguished PhD Mentoring Award in 2020.  She was inducted into the Australia Accounting Hall of Fame in 2022.  Dechow earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Western Australia and a doctorate in accounting and finance from the W.E. Simon School of Business Administration at the University of Rochester.  She is an editor for the Review of Accounting Studies.  She has recently been involved in developing and teaching a course on Sustainability Reporting.  She is a member of the Executive Committee for the RRBM network (Responsible Research in Business & Management).