UW-Madison School of Business: Thomas Linsmeier, Accounting standard setter and leading scholar, to join Wisconsin School of Business accounting faculty

Contact: Peter Kerwin, 608-890-2045

Member of Financial Accounting Standards Board to Bring Expertise

MADISON, Wis. — Thomas Linsmeier—a leader in the areas of financial reporting and disclosure who has spent the last decade serving on the board responsible for setting accounting standards for U.S. public and private companies and not-for-profit organizations —will join the faculty of the Wisconsin School of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison next fall as Professor and Distinguished Chair in Accounting.

First appointed to the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in July 2006, Linsmeier was reappointed to a second term in 2011. From 1999 to 2006, he was a professor and chair of the department of accounting and information systems at Michigan State University. In addition to being recognized as an award-winning teacher and researcher, Linsmeier is a prominent scholar in the area of accounting for financial instruments, derivatives, and risk management. His research has explored the role of accounting information in securities markets, including the usefulness to investors of fair value and market risk management disclosures, and the economic effects of accounting standards.

“I am excited to be joining the faculty of the business school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the fall of 2016,” says Linsmeier, an alumnus of the Wisconsin School of Business. “I look forward to learning together with my outstanding colleagues in the accounting department and using my experiences in the standard-setting arena to bring context to my research and teaching.”

François Ortalo-Magné, Albert O. Nicholas Dean of the Wisconsin School of Business adds, “Tom Linsmeier is a leading scholar in the field of accounting for financial instruments, risk management, and hedging, and his research has direct implications for standard-setting. With 10 years of experience as a member of FASB, Tom is the perfect scholar to help us redefine the partnership between public research universities and the business community. And best of all, Tom is a Badger! We are thrilled to welcome him back home.”

Linsmeier received his Ph.D. and MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his Bachelor’s in Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. From 1994 to 1997, he served as Academic Fellow and Special Consultant to the Office of the Chief Accountant at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where he was responsible for developing financial reporting disclosure rules related to the market risk inherent in derivatives and other financial instruments. He also served as chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Committee and president of the Financial Accounting and Reporting Section of the American Accounting Association. Linsmeier is a certified public accountant.

Linsmeier’s research has been published in The Accounting Review; Journal of Accounting Research; Review of Accounting Studies; Management Science; Accounting Horizons; Accounting and Business Research; Journal of Accounting, Auditing, and Finance; Journal of Business, Finance and Accounting; and Financial Analysts Journal.