Douglas J. Skinner is John P. and Lillian A. Gould Professor of Accounting at the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business. Before joining the University of Chicago in 2005, Professor Skinner taught at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan for 16 years. Professor Skinner holds Masters of Science and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Rochester (Rochester, NY) and a Bachelor of Economics (First Class Honours) from Macquarie University in Sydney.
Professor Skinner’s principal teaching interests lie in the area of corporate finance and financial reporting. He currently teaches in the Executive MBA and PhD programs at Chicago, and taught in a variety of programs at the Ross School, including the BBA, MBA, and Ph.D. program as well as in the school’s Global MBA and Executive Education programs. Professor Skinner works extensively with Ph.D. students; former students have taken jobs at Harvard, Wharton, Chicago, Stanford, and other leading business schools. Professor Skinner is currently the accounting area advisor for the Chicago Ph.D. program.
Professor Skinner is a Co-Editor of the Journal of Accounting Research and a former Co-Editor of the Journal of Accounting & Economics, which are both top-tier academic journals in accounting, and has served several terms on the editorial board of The Accounting Review, the professional outlet of the American Accounting Association. His research is published in leading accounting and finance journals, including The Accounting Review, the Journal of Accounting & Economics, the Journal of Accounting Research, the Journal of Business, the Journal of Finance, and the Journal of Financial Economics.
Professor Skinner’s current research focuses on corporate financial policy, especially financial reporting and disclosure policies. Recent papers address the determinants of firms’ payout policies (dividends and stock repurchases); earnings management; corporate disclosure policies, including earnings guidance; earnings disappointments; and related topics. He has recently done work on financial reporting practices in Japan.