Stefan Schantl

Stefan Schantl is an Associate Professor of Accounting in the Department of Accounting, Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Melbourne. He began his academic journey at the University of Graz, completing four undergraduate and master's degrees in business administration with a focus on accounting and in sociology between 2004 and 2009. From 2010 to 2014, he participated in the inaugural Doctoral Program in Accounting, Reporting and Taxation (DART) at the Universities of Graz and Vienna and the Vienna University of Economics and Business, including a year as a visiting scholar in the Accounting Department at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He joined the University of Melbourne as a Senior Lecturer in September 2015, following a visiting position at Purdue University's Krannert Graduate School of Management from August 2014 to May 2015. Earlier professional experience includes internships and freelance positions in assurance services at PwC in Vienna, mid-office corporate treasury at Mondi Group in Vienna, management consulting at ICG in Graz, automotive market research at TNS Infratest in Munich, and international trade at Advantage Austria in Warsaw, as well as part-time work as an auditing associate at Moore Stephens in Graz serving clients in tourism and aviation.

Schantl's research at the intersection of accounting, finance, economics, and law employs microeconomic models to examine empirical patterns in firms' financial reporting and disclosure behaviors, capital market participants' information acquisition, investment, and engagement decisions, offering guidance for regulatory policy and disclosure mandates. His publications appear in leading journals such as Review of Accounting Studies ("Economic Effects of Litigation Risk on Corporate Disclosure and Innovation," 2024; "When do corporate penalties for financial misreporting enhance long-term firm value?" 2026), Journal of Accounting and Economics ("Optimal internal control and disclosure," 2020), Journal of Accounting Research ("Financial Reporting and Credit Ratings: On the Effects of Competition in the Rating Industry and Rating Agencies’ Gatekeeper Role," 2019), Journal of Accounting and Public Policy ("Deterrence of financial misreporting when public and private enforcement overlap," 2021), and Accounting and Business Research ("Analyst information acquisition and the relative informativeness of analyst forecasts and managed earnings," 2018). At the University of Melbourne, he coordinates and teaches introductory, intermediate, and capstone courses in financial, managerial, and sustainability accounting across undergraduate, master's, and PhD levels, including ACCT10001 Accounting Reports and Analysis since 2025 and ACCT90013 Financial Accounting Theory & Practice from 2018 to 2023. He serves as an ad hoc reviewer for Contemporary Accounting Research, Management Science, Review of Accounting Studies, and The Accounting Review, and supervises PhD students.

Professional Email: stefan.schantl@unimelb.edu.au