Transitioning into Qualitative Research

Dana R. Hermanson2012 Auditing MYC

Outline How/why did I get into this type of research?

Opportunities

Challenges

“Things you might hear” – sample quotes from interview-based research

Conclusion

The Beginning of “Why” – Fall 1990 “What did the analysts say when you talked to them about

the accounting information they use in developing earnings forecasts?” Heather Hermanson, first year doctoral student, University of Wisconsin

“What?? We don’t talk to analysts. We analyze archival data and draw conclusions. Analysts would not be able to tell us what they do.” Presenter at workshop in response to Heather’s question

“How”: The Big Leap – Fall 2003 “Guys, we have come into some unexpected funding for a

research project. Maybe we should interview 40-50 U.S. audit committee members to better understand the AC process. Nobody has done that before.” Joe Carcello, visionary

“Sounds good – how do we do this?” Mark Beasley, Dana Hermanson, and Terry Neal, novice qualitative researchers

“We’ll figure it out.” Joe Carcello

The Current State - 2012 A second (third?) research career for me

The most enjoyable research I have done

Still climbing the learning curve

Primary focus on governance processes within board committees – AC (2009 CAR), CC (2012 CAR), CC in India (under review), NGC (under review), SPC (in process), etc.

With DBA students – practitioners and academic careers (2011 CIIA), Ponzi scheme victims (2012 JFIA), etc.

Opportunities – What Can We Learn? Understand a process – how and why questions

Dig into underlying thinking, perceptions, anecdotes

Appreciate subtle and sometimes conflicting considerations

Greatly deepen theoretical understanding – has completely altered my view of corporate governance, in particular

Challenges – Learning How To Do This Prior literature – methods, theories, “style”; Gendron (2009),

Radcliffe (2010), etc.

Journal review process – discussant, editor, and “Reviewer 2”

Leaders in the area – other panelists, etc.

Theory – Cohen et al. (2008) has been great resource for me

Quotes and themes – develop these; that’s where the richness is

Diverse team – KSU team of ACCT, FIN, and MGT; different skills (Tompkins, Veliyath, Ye, Clune)

Things You Might Hear The fact of the matter is that we have no [director] search process. The last

three directors were identified by the CEO and put through a mock process. NYSE NGC Chair

We did not want a friend of the CEO. We wanted someone who was independent and could challenge management on a deep level regarding the industry and could think outside the box. We did not want someone who was handpicked by the CEO. However, if the CEO did not like the person, we would be reluctant to bring that person in. NYSE NGC Member

There is very little that the audit committee can do in the fraud area unless it is absolutely glaring. NYSE AC chair

Things You Might Hear Top management compensation has gotten out of control. It’s difficult to put

the genie back in the bottle because boards are also afraid of losing talented CEOs, and if the CEO does not leave, they get mad and that is not good either. Regulations might be necessary, but the government got it so wrong with the banking industry. They are so far from reality that it is not a winning strategy. Another problem is that consultants provide consistently escalating (pay) advice . . . “What is the right thing to do?” is not a question posed by consultants. NYSE CC member

I am not sure what you learn as a Ph.D. or what it adds. I am a CFO for a public company and feel that I know enough to teach. I cannot think of what else I would study as a Ph.D. Public company CFO

Conclusion Exceptionally rewarding work – fascinating discussions with high-level

people

A lot of legwork in getting access to people – sponsors and connections help

Excellent complement to other types of research

Very well suited for Masters classroom use and presentations to practitioner groups

Still diverse views of this type of work, especially in the U.S. – varies widely by person and by journal