Richard M. Frankel, PhD, was installed March 21 as the Beverly and James Hance Professor of Accounting at Washington University in St. Louis.
Frankel joined Olin Business School in 2005 as associate professor of accounting. Previously, he taught at the Sloan School of Business at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.
Frankel is an expert in financial accounting, which provides information to individuals outside a firm. This information allows outsiders to evaluate performance and monitor managers, make investment decisions, and allocate decision and control rights among the contracting parties (e.g., shareholders, managers, creditors, suppliers) that comprise a firm.
Frankel’s research examines the collection and dissemination of information about a firm and its incorporation into security prices and lending contracts. He focuses on several fundamental areas: auditing, voluntary disclosure, adverse selection, agency costs, security analysts and investors’ use of financial information in price formation.
Frankel serves as an associate editor at the Journal of Accounting and Economics and regularly reviews papers for the Journal of Accounting Research, Accounting Review, Review of Accounting Studies and Management Science.
James and Beverly Hance
James H. Hance, Jr., and his wife, Beverly, made a commitment in 2004 to establish this professorship. The Hances are alumni of Olin Business School and the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, respectively.
Before his retirement in 2005, Hance served as vice chairman of Bank of America Corp., and a member of the company’s board of directors. He is a senior advisor to The Carlyle Group.
He is a trustee of Washington University and a member of the National Council for Olin Business School.
In addition, he served as national chair for regional campaigns in the Campaign for Washington University.