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Susan Watts

Susan Watts

Emanuel T. Weiler Chair in Management
Accounting

Education

Ph.D., Accounting, University of Iowa
M.A., Accounting, University of Iowa
B.B.A., Accounting, University of Iowa

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Professor Watts's research focuses on the effect of information and competition in markets as well as issues in corporate social responsibility. She has published papers in the Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Accounting and Economics, The Accounting Review, The Rand Journal of Economics, Management Science, Contemporary Accounting Research, Review of Accounting Studies, Journal of Management Accounting Research, Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, and other accounting, economics and finance journals. 

Professor Watts teaches both financial and managerial accounting as well as courses focused on corporate social responsibility. She also teaches in the doctoral program and is the Accounting area doctoral student academic advisor. She has won numerous teaching awards at the university, school and departmental levels and was included in Purdue University's Book of Great Teachers in 2008. Other awards include the Purdue University Charles B. Murphy Outstanding Teaching Award, Purdue University Teaching for Tomorrow Award, Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award, and Best Teacher Award in the School of Management. She is also a Fellow in Purdue University's Teaching Academy and was named a Purdue University Faculty Scholar.

Prior to joining Krannert, she taught at Indiana University-Bloomington, where she also won university, school and departmental teaching awards, and at the University of British Columbia.  She taught at the University of Northern Iowa while a doctoral student. Before going to graduate school, she was an accountant with Brown Group, Inc. in St. Louis. She has a CPA certificate from the State of Missouri, and is a member of the American Accounting Association, the Canadian Academic Accounting Association, the American Finance Association, Financial Management Association, INFORMS, the National Investor Relations Institute, FEI, Beta Alpha Psi and Beta Gamma Sigma.

Journal Articles

  • Watts, S. & Bagnoli, M. (2017). Voluntary Assurance of Voluntary CSR Disclosure. Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, vol. 26 (1), 205-230.
  • Watts, S. & Bagnoli, M. (2015). Competitve Intelligence and Disclosure. RAND Journal of Economics, vol. 46 (4), 709-729.
  • Watts, S. & Bagnoli, M. (2015). Delegating Disclosure and Production Choices. The Accounting Review, vol. 90 (3), 835-857.
  • Watts, S., M. Bagnoli & T. Wang (2014). How Do Corporate Websites Contribute to the Information Environment? Evidence from the U.S. and Taiwan. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, vol. 33 (6), 596-627.
  • Watts, S. & Bagnoli, M. (2013). Knowing Versus Telling Private Information About a Rival. Journal of Management Accounting Research, vol. 25 35-58.
  • Watts, S., Bagnoli, M. & H. Liu (2011). Family Firms, Debtholder-Shareholder Agency Costs and the Use of Covenants in Private Debt. Annals of Finance, vol. 7 (4), 477-509.
  • Watts, S. & Bagnoli, M. (2010). Oligopoly, Disclosure and Earnings Management. The Accounting Review, vol. 85 (4), 1191-1214.
  • Watts, S., Bagnoli, M. & Y. Zhang (2008). Reg FD and the Competitiveness of All-Star Analysts. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, vol. 27 (4), 295-316.
  • Watts, S. & Bagnoli, M. (2007). Financial Reporting and Supplemental Voluntary Disclosures. Journal of Accounting Research, vol. 45 (5), 885-913.
  • Watts, S., Bagnoli, M. & Levine, S. (2006). Trading Strategies Based on Analyst Estimate Revision Clusters and Associated Corporate Information Events. Journal of Investing, vol. 15 (1), 32-42.
  • Watts, S. & Bagnoli, M. (2005). Conservative Accounting Choices. Management Science, vol. 51 (5), 786-801.
  • Watts, S., Bagnoli, M. & Levine, S. (2005). Analyst Estimate Revision Clusters and Corporate Events, Part II. Annals of Finance, vol. 1 (4), 379-393.
  • Watts, S., Bagnoli, M. & Levine, S. (2005). Analyst Estimate Revision Clusters and Corporate Events, Part I. Annals of Finance, vol. 1 (3), 245-265.
  • Watts, S., Bagnoli, M. & Clement, M. (2004). Hiding in Plain Sight? Bad Earnings News Still Mostly Shows Up on Fridays and Mondays. Investor Relations Quarterly, vol. 6 (2), 15-32.
  • Watts, S. & Bagnoli, M. (2003). Selling to Socially Responsible Consumers: Competition and the Private Provision of Public Goods. Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, vol. 12 (3), 419-445.
  • Watts, S., Bagnoli, M. & Kross, W. (2002). The Information in Management's Expected Report Date: A Day Late, A Penny Short. Journal of Accounting Research, vol. 40 (5), 1275-1296.
  • Watts, S., Bagnoli, M. & Penno, M. (2001). Auditing in The Presence of Outside Sources of Information. Journal of Accounting Research, vol. 39 (3), 435-47.
  • Watts, S. & Bagnoli, M. (2000). The Effect of Relative Performance Evaluation on Earnings Management: A Game-Theoretic Approach. The Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, vol. 19 (4-5), 377-397.
  • Watts, S. & Bagnoli, M. (2000). Whisper Numbers, the Internet and Investor Relations. Investor Relations Quarterly, vol. 3 (2), 42-48.
  • Watts, S. & Bagnoli, M. (2000). Chasing Hot Funds: The Effects of Relative Performance on Portfolio Choice. Financial Management, vol. 29 (3), 31-50.
  • Watts, S., Bagnoli, M. & Beneish, M. (2000). Earnings Expectations: How Important Are the Whispers?. American Association of Individual Investors Journal, vol. 22 (5), 11-14.
  • Watts, S., Gillette, A., Stevens, D. & Williams, A. (1999). Price and Volume Reactions to Public Information Releases: An Experimental Approach Incorporating Traders' Subjective Beliefs. Contemporary Accounting Research, vol. 16 (3), 437-480.
  • Watts, S., Bagnoli, M. & Beneish, M. (1999). Whisper Forecasts of Quarterly Earnings Per Share. Journal of Accounting and Economics, vol. 28 (1), 27-50.
  • Watts, S. & Bagnoli, M. (1998). Information Acquisition, Information Release and Trading Dynamics. Journal of Financial Markets, vol. 1 (3), 221-252.
  • Watts, S., Begley, J. & Ming, J. (1996). Bankruptcy Classification Errors in The 1980s: An Empirical Analysis of Altman and Ohlson's Models. Review of Accounting Studies, vol. 1 (4), 267-284.
  • Watts, S. & Greene, J. (1996). Price Discovery on NYSE and NASDAQ: The Case of Overnight and Daytime News Releases. Financial Management, vol. 25 (1), 19-42.
  • Watts, S. (1992). Private Information, Prices, Asset Allocation, and Profits: Further Experimental Evidence. Research in Experimental Economics, vol. 5 81-117.
  • Watts, S., DeJong, D., Forsythe, R. & Lundholm, R. (1992). Do Prices Convey Information? Further Empirical Evidence. Research in Experimental Economics, vol. 5 61-79.

Book Review

  • Watts, S. (2012). Financial Statement Analysis and the Prediction of Financial Distress. The Accounting Review, vol. 87, 1445-1447.

Working Papers

  • Watts, S. & Bagnoli, M (2017). Forced Voluntary Disclosure. | Download |
  • Watts, S. & Bagnoli, M. Voluntary Disclosure with Private Costs. | Download |
  • Purdue Accounting Theory Conference

    Fourth Annual Purdue Accounting Theory Conference

    The Accounting Faculty held the fourth annual Purdue Accounting Theory Conference on May 18 and 19, 2018. The program included distinguished guest speakers from across the country.

    Full story: Fourth Annual Purdue Accounting Theory Conference

  • Accounting faculty selected for Best Paper Award


    The American Accounting Association’s Management Accounting Section Publications Committee has selected Mark Bagnoli’s and Susan Watts's paper “Knowing versus Telling Private Information about a Rival”, published in the Journal of Management Accounting Research in 2013, to be awarded the 2015 Journal of Management Accounting Research Best Paper Award. The Publications committee considered all research papers published in JMAR between 2013 and 2015, and judged their paper to have the highest potential impact on management accounting research.

    Congratulations Mark and Susan!

Contact

swatts@purdue.edu
Phone: (765) 49-44504
Office: RAWL 4041

Quick links

Personal website

Area(s) of Expertise

Effect of information and competition in markets, accounting