Yu Hou
Associate Professor & KPMG Fellow of AccountingOverview
Yu Hou is an Associate Professor & KPMG Fellow of Accounting at Smith School of Business, KPMG Fellow of Accounting, as well as the Senior Research Fellow for the CPA Centre for Corporate Reporting and Professionalism.
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Academic Area
- Accounting
Interest Topics
- Accounting
- Business Law
- Innovation
Faculty Details
Profile
Full Bio
Yu Hou is an Associate Professor & KPMG Fellow of Accounting at Smith School of Business, KPMG Fellow of Accounting, as well as the Senior Research Fellow for the CPA Centre for Corporate Reporting and Professionalism.
He has diverse research interests and has focused most recently on issues related to disclosure, auditing, and patent trolls.
Yu has published papers in premier journals such as The Accounting Review, Contemporary Accounting Research, and Review of Accounting Studies.
Yu received his PhD from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto in 2013 and also holds a PhD degree in Business Administration and a Bachelor's degree in Accounting from Tsinghua University (Beijing, China).
He received a CGA certificate from the Certified General Accountants Association in 2003. He has taught undergraduate core course Management Accounting at Smith School of Business and Rotman School of Management. Yu was the recipient of Research Excellence Award in 2017.
Academic Degrees
Doctor of Philosophy, Accounting
Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto (2013)
Doctor of Philosophy, Business Administration
School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University (2010)
Bachelor of Accounting
School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University (2003)
Academic Experience
Smith School of Business, Queen's University
Senior Research Fellow, CPA Centre for Corporate Reporting and Professionalism (2021 - Present)
Associate Professor (2019 - Present)
KPMG Fellow of Accounting (2017 - 2021)
Assistant Professor (2013-2019)
Publications
Financial Times Journal Publications
“Do Firms Mimic Industry Leaders' Accounting? Evidence from Financial Statement Comparability” With Gus De Franco and Mark Ma, The Accounting Review, forthcoming
“Chilling Effects of Patent Trolls” With Feng Chen, Jiaping Qiu, and Gordon Richardson, Research Policy, forthcoming
“Auditor Experience and the Timeliness of Litigation Loss Contingency Disclosures” With Feng Chen, Gordon Richardson, and Minlei Ye, Contemporary Accounting Research, Vol.35, No. 2, 2018
“Strategic Disclosures of Litigation Loss Contingencies When Customer-Supplier Relationships Are at Risk” With Ling Cen, Feng Chen, and Gordon Richardson, The Accounting Review, Vol.93, No. 2, 2017
“The Role of Diversification in the Pricing of Accruals Quality” Review of Accounting Studies, Vol.20, No. 20, 2015 (dissertation)
Working Manuscripts
“CEOs' Legal Expertise and Strategic Disclosures of Litigation Loss Contingencies” With Feng Chen, Gordon Richardson, and Barbara Su (under review)
“Macroeconomic News in the Cross-Section of Firm Assets” With Artur Hugon, Matt Lyle, and Seth Pruitt
“Same-Firm Audit Office Switches and Informationally Motivated Opinion Shopping”, With Feng Chen and Jere Francis
“Does SEC Enforcement Promote or Deter Opportunistic Reporting?” With Mike Welker and Barbara Su
Other Publications (in Chinese)
“Information Transparency and Individual Investor Trading” With Haofeng Xu, Finance Research, Issue 3, 2012
“Accounting Standard Changes and Foreign Analyst Behavior: Evidence from China” With Xiaolin Chen and Yutao Wang, China Journal of Accounting Research, Issue 1, 2012
“The Local analysts' Information Advantage: Geographical Proximity or Familiarity with Accounting Standards? ” With Xiao Chen and Yutao Wang, Accounting Research, Issue 12, 2010
“Investor Protection and Ownership Concentration: New Empirical Evidence from Control Right Transfer” With Yutao Wang, Finance Research, Issue 3, 2010
“Institutional Investors, Informed Trading and Market Efficiency” With Dongyan Ye, Finance Research, Issue 2, 2008
Media Coverage
Webinar, CPA Ontario and Smith Insights, “Auditing and Controlling Cybersecurity Risks” Nov 31, 2022
Article, Smith Insights, “Making the Case for Lawyer CEOs” Jun 10, 2021
Article, Smith Insights, “For Copycat Accountants, Location Matters” Nov 2, 2019
Article, Smith Insights, “Patent Trolls Are Worse Than You Think” Jul 8, 2019
Article, Smith Insights, “Shopping for a Pretty Picture or An Accurate One?” Feb 25, 2018
Teaching
Queen's University
COMM 112 Introduction to Management Accounting, Commerce Core Course: 2014 – present COMM 312 Intermediate Management Accounting, 2022
University of Toronto
Managerial Accounting: 2012
Tsinghua University
Financial Data Analysis: 2006 - 2007
Student Supervision
- PhD Supervisor for Lin Bai
- PhD Committee member for Jing Wang
- First Reader for MSc student Lei Luo
- Second Reader for MSc student Luke Phelps
Research
Interests
Disclosure, Auditing, Litigation, Accounting-based Valuation
Presentations
Conference Participation
Contemporary Accounting Research Conference 2010 - 2021
Canadian Academic Accounting Association Annual Meeting 2011 - 2022
Review of Accounting Studies Conference 2014
Annual Conference on Financial Economics and Accounting 2014 & 2016
American Accounting Association Annual Meeting 2011 - 2021
Toronto Accounting Research Conference 2008 - 2017
University of Alberta Accounting Research Conference 2017 - 2018
McMaster Accounting Research Symposium 2012 - 2016
Financial Accounting and Reporting Section Midyear Meeting 2013 & 2015
AAA Deloitte/J. Michael Cook Doctoral Consortium Lake Tahoe 2012
Awards
Fellowships
KPMG Fellowship in Accounting (2017)
Research Awards
New Researcher Award, Smith School of Business (2017)
Other Awards
DI McLeod Award, Smith School of Business (2016)
Grants & Funding
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Development Grant, Co-Investigator (2020)
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Grant, Principal Investigator (2020)
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Grant, Co-Investigator (2020)
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Development Grant (2017, 2016)
General Research Grant, Smith School of Business (2017)
Research Initiation Grant, Smith School of Business (2013)
Service
Reviewing Activities
- Editorial Board Member for Contemporary Accounting Research
- Ad hoc reviewer for Accounting Horizon, Contemporary Accounting Research, Management Science, Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance, and Journal of International Accounting Research
- Ad hoc Reviewer for Annual Conference on Financial Economics and Accounting, American Accounting Association Annual Meeting and Canadian Academic Accounting Association Annual Meeting
- Reviewing committee member for Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Insight Development Grants competition 2017 - 2019
- Regular Reviewer for the Research Grants Council (RGC) of Hong Kong - General Research Fund (GRF) and Early Career Scheme (ECS) 2014 – 2022
Professional Affiliations
- American Accounting Association (AAA)
- Canadian Academic Accounting Association (CAAA)
- Chinese Accounting Professors Association of North America (CAPANA)
Professional Certifications and Industrial Experience
Research Analyst, China Security and Regulatory Commission (CSRC), Beijing, China, 2004-2006
Certified General Accountant (Inactive), CGA Institute, 2003