Jayanthi Sunder

Jayanthi Sunder is a distinguished accounting scholar affiliated with the Business & Economics faculty, holding the Dhaliwal-HSLopez Endowed Chair in Accounting and serving as Director of the Dhaliwal-Reidy School of Accountancy at the Eller College of Management, University of Arizona, since 2021 and 2010, respectively. She advanced through the ranks at Eller, from Assistant Professor (2010–2015) to Associate Professor (2015–2019), and Deloitte Full Professor of Accounting (2019–2021), alongside a courtesy appointment as Professor of Finance since 2019. Previously, she was Assistant Professor of Accounting Information and Management at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University (2003–2010), and Assistant Professor of Finance at the Johnson Graduate School of Business, Cornell University (2002–2003). Sunder earned her Ph.D. in Finance from New York University Stern School of Business, an MBA with specialization in Accounting and Finance from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Bombay, and a Bachelor’s in Commerce from Madras University. Her professional experience includes roles as a senior consultant at A.F. Ferguson & Co. Management Consultancy Division and business analyst at Hindustan Unilever Limited. She teaches courses such as Intermediate Financial Accounting and Advanced Accounting.

Sunder’s research focuses on financial reporting and capital markets, debt contracting, compensation contracting, and information production in capital markets, with key interests in Financial Accounting and Corporate Finance. Her influential publications include 'Accounting Quality and Debt Contracting' (The Accounting Review, 2008, with S.T. Bharath and S.V. Sunder, 1907 citations), 'Pilot CEOs and Corporate Innovation' (Journal of Financial Economics, 2017, with S.V. Sunder and J. Zhang, 721 citations), 'Measure for Measure: The Relation between Forecast Accuracy and Recommendation Profitability of Analysts' (Journal of Accounting Research, 2007, with Y. Ertimur and S.V. Sunder, 340 citations), 'Investor Horizon and CEO Horizon Incentives' (The Accounting Review, 2014, with B. Cadman), 'Auditor Conservatism, Audit Quality, and Real Consequences for Clients' (Review of Accounting Studies, 2023, with C. Hall and S. Judd), and 'Can Shareholders Benefit from Consumer Protection Disclosure Mandates? Evidence from Data Breach Disclosure Laws and the Cost of Equity' (The Accounting Review, 2023, with M. Ashraf). She has received awards including the Dissertation Committee Chair Award (2021), Outstanding Auditing Dissertation Award (2021), Kalt Prize (2020), Deloitte Professorship (2017–present), Outstanding Faculty Member in Accounting (2018), and Excellence in Teaching Award (2017). Sunder serves as Editor of the Journal of Financial Reporting (2023–present) and Journal of Accounting and Public Policy (2019–2022), with editorial board roles at The Accounting Review and others, and contributed to the AAA Financial Reporting Policy Committee (2015–2018).

Professional Email: jayanthisunder@arizona.edu