Yu-An Chen | Rutgers Business School
In the inaugural class of HARDI in the year 2021 (HARDI-2021), I am honored to learn from and with world-class accounting researchers and talented doctoral students from different schools across the world. Based on my experience in the HARDI-2021, I believe that the HARDI program is achieving its stated goals of exchanging research inquiries, obtaining insights into the future of accounting research, motivating research ideas, and offering an excellent opportunity to establish valuable connections between experienced and young accounting colleagues. The HARDI program involves a solid learning schedule, and each class involves active discussions on classic and ongoing accounting research papers. The program inspires participants to explore more unknowns in our profession. My latest working paper, “On the Market Rewards for Increasing Earnings Patterns: A Replication and Extension of Barth, Elliott, and Finn (1999),” co-authored with my advisor, Dr. Dan Palmon, can be a good example. The working paper is motivated by the works of a fantastic accounting researcher, Dr. Mary Barth, who is one of the invited faculty in HARDI-2021. Dr. Barth also offers her valuable comments that undoubtedly help improve our working paper. This short and ongoing story of mine can be a piece of early evidence supporting the benefits of the HARDI program.
Siqi (Sophia) Fan | University of Hawai’i at Mānoa
I participated in the HARDI last year. It is very helpful to me, and I learn a lot from the professors and PhD students from the well-known universities. I strongly believe that this amazing opportunity is a worth program to support for and to invest in.
HyunSahn Ko | Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
I was gratefully benefitted from top accounting professors and high-skilled doctoral students from various different schools around the world. I cannot agree more that the HARDI program is achieving its stated goals of exchanging research inquiries, obtaining insights into the future of accounting research, motivating research ideas, and offering an excellent opportunity to establish valuable connections between experienced and young accounting colleagues. I personally came up with a few research ideas during the program, and thus I decided to include one of them in in my dissertation. The program is well-scheduled and monitored by faculty members at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Seyoung Park | University of Oregon- Lundquist College of Business
HARDI provided me wonderful opportunities to grow as a young scholar. First, I was able to connect with fellow students who are passionate on accounting research. We had a chance to talk about research ideas and provided each other feedbacks. I still keep in touch with them and support each other by giving comments on research and by congratulating each other whenever there is good news. Second, it was wonderful experience to take seminars from leading scholars in the accounting academic. Not only they discussed papers but also they shared experiences on what would be a good and interesting research. I recall that one professor advised us that although we are examining unanswered research question, not all aspects of a paper should be brand new. For example, researchers can build on from prior studies for using measures, and that way a paper can become more concrete. I carved those advice deep into myself and it indeed very helpful when I do my own research. Lastly, HARDI organizing committee members are very dedicated to facilitating the program. I felt very cared for while I was attending the program.
Kasper Regenburg | Copenhagen Business School
Taking part in the inaugural consortium has greatly boosted my research knowledge, contact with young fellows, and exposure to top academics in our field. The consortium has been a pivotal experience to help me understand the current trends and challenges within accounting research and—sometimes more important—to connect with other Ph.D. students and top academics who all want to tackle these challenges in collaboration, letting me know that we are part of a team to solve challenges and not just alone against the world. As a positive surprise, I also learned how deeply humble top academics in the field are, and that they are eager to pass on their knowledge to the next generation. I can only aspire to do the same at the HARDI consortium in twenty years.
Julia Ariel-Rohr | University of Wisconsin Madison- Wisconsin School of Business
I had the privilege of attending HARDI in the summer of 2021, going into the fourth year of my Ph.D. program at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. The doctoral institute was instrumental in expanding my worldview and preparing me for my dissertation and life as a well-rounded academic.Many accounting departments specialize in a specific research topic and methodology. Doctoral advisors have particular philosophies about research, which get passed down to their students. While this helps to create deep subject-matter expertise, a necessity in academia, exposure to diverse ideas is an equally important quality. At HARDI, I met professors and peers that I would have never otherwise had the opportunity to engage with. Not only was I introduced to an expansive array of research that I was not familiar with, but I also met lifelong friends. HARDI’s invited faculty presenters are the top researchers in the country leading the way in advancing our knowledge about the importance of accounting. To be able to spend consecutive days with each of these professors in a small-group setting was a phenomenal experience.
As a former auditor, I know the merit of national training and networking. However, until HARDI, the opportunities for this type of camaraderie and knowledge-sharing among a diverse set of Ph.D. students and professors were limited.
Gurpal S. Sran | The University of Chicago- Booth School of Business
I had the pleasure of being part of the first HARDI class, and the experience was unique and fruitful.Often, the PhD student experience is siloing; because we are trained at a single institution, our prolonged academic interactions are limited to those we have with our mentors and colleagues at our home institutions. While this exposure and training is crucial and very much appreciated, few rigorous opportunities exist outside of those interactions to understand the different lenses of accounting research. HARDI provides exactly that opportunity; personally, I was exposed not only to literatures that I had not read more than a few papers on before, but also to fellow student colleagues who were developing experts in those fields. This experience has had a permanent impact on me: I have continued to connect with my colleagues after the conference, and I feel much more able to engage in research discussions about areas of research that are not my main area of expertise. In the fall, I will join NYU Stern as an Assistant Professor, and the HARDI experience will be an important input to my success and collegiality.
Cong Tao | ESSEC Business School (Paris)
I was honored to virtually participate in the HARDI 2021. During the 3-week consortium, I explored various accounting fields with well-established scholars in each field and excellent doctoral students from top schools around the world. As a doctoral student from Europe, I am mostly limited to the European accounting community. HARDI provides such a precious opportunity for me to interact with scholars from other parts of the world, such as the US, Korea, India, etc. It is a platform where I can efficiently get exposed to important topics that are not covered at my institution, and where I can establish networking with other Ph.D. students through team projects. Apart from the benefits that Ph.D. students can gather from HARDI, I believe that such an event is also beneficial for accounting practitioners. With a Professional Advisory Board, HARDI aims to identify relevant and urgent issues in the real world and train young scholars to conduct professionally relevant accounting research.
Prabhu Venkatachalam | Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore
I was fortunate to be a part of the inaugural class, which saw the participation of some of the best-known names in accounting, auditing, and taxation research as instructors and a prolific set of student Ph.D. student colleagues. The consortium targets industry-relevant research. At the beginning of our preparations for the consortium, the topics that we are encouraged to pursue have an immediate bearing on practitioners and regulators. One of my ongoing research projects, co-authored with Professor Srinivasan Rangan, looks at the real impact of the new revenue recognition standard on various industries and if standard-setters were successful in achieving planned objectives. Discussions on this topic during the consortium with Professor Patricia Dechow helped incorporate new ways of looking at the implications of revenue quality.
HARDI also brings together students from different geographies. The ensuing exchange of ideas brings out various settings, regulatory frameworks, and data. The discussion also had an international flavor since many of the research papers selected had a cross-country or international setting. Professors helped guide us to look at different contexts that are not available in one’s own country to explore unanswered research questions. The consortium is of a generous duration, intense in its content, and with access to quality instructors, HARDI’s impact on the participants is immense.