JK Aier

George Mason University School of Business Faculty JK Aier

Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Global Engagement
Additional Roles: Associate Professor, Accounting; Kearney & Company Faculty Fellow

Contact Information

Email: jaier@gmu.edu
Phone: (703) 993-4546
Office Location: Enterprise Hall 246
Office Hours: By appointment

Biography

JK Aier is the senior associate dean for academic affairs and global engagement and an associate professor within the accounting area in the School of Business at George Mason University. Professor Aier’s research primarily focuses on the influence of managerial characteristics and incentives on financial reporting decisions. His work has been published in top tier peer-reviewed accounting journals like Journal of Accounting Research and Contemporary Accounting Research.

Professor Aier teaches financial accounting courses at the undergraduate level and courses on corporate governance and advanced financial accounting for MBA, MSA and EMBA students. He has also initiated and/or led MBA and MSA students on global residencies to various countries like South Africa, Ireland, Czech Republic, Germany, Austria and Brazil. He developed a teaching model on ethics and sustainability that lays the foundation for teaching ethics across the curriculum in graduate programs at the School of Business. He has received a number of research and teaching awards including the 2016 Outstanding MSA online faculty of the year award. Previously, he was recognized with the 2015 School of Business Outstanding Contribution to Teaching award, the 2015 MSA Professor of the Year award and the 2012 Beta Alpha Psi Philip Blanchard Teaching award for Excellence in Undergraduate Education. At the University level, Dr. Aier was nominated for the 2013 OSCAR Mentoring Excellence award and 2014 University Teaching Excellence award.

Professor Aier earned his PhD and Masters in Accountancy and Information Systems from Arizona State University. He is also a certified Chartered Accountant and Cost Accountant and has a MBA from International Management Institute. Prior to his doctoral studies, Dr. Aier worked for over nine years in the fields of banking and public accounting. 

Research Interests

  • Insider Trading
  • Cash Flow Analysis
  • Earnings Quality
  • Corporate Governance

Education

  • PhD - Accounting, Arizona State University
  • MS - Accounting and Information Systems, W.P. Carey School of Business
  • MBA - International Management Institute, Delhi, India
  • BS - Commerce, University of Calcutta, India

Research and Awards

  • Presented the paper titled, “CEO Characteristics and Marketing Decision Making -An Empirical Investigation” at the Marketing Science (INFORMS Journal) in Shangai, China in 2016 (with coauthors Gauthan Vadakkepatt and Amit Joshi).
  • Received a Research Award from George Mason’s School of Business in 2015 and a Teaching Award from George Mason’s School of Business in 2016.
  • Received a Research Award from George Mason School of Business in 2015 and was nominated for a University Service Award from George Mason School of Business in 2016.
  • Published an article titled, “Debtholders' Demand for Conservatism: Evidence from Changes in Directors' Fiduciary Duties” (coauthored with Mikhail Pevzner and Long Chen) in the Journal of Accounting Research in 2014.
  • Received a Teaching Award from George Mason School of Business in 2015 for faculty recognized for outstanding contributions to teaching.
  • Published an article titled, “Debtholders' Demand for Conservatism: Evidence from Changes in Directors' Fiduciary Duties” (coauthored with Long Chen and Mikhail Pevzner) in the Journal of Accounting Research in 2014.
  • Nominated for an OSCAR Mentoring Excellence Award in 2013. The purpose of this award is to recognize and reward outstanding Mason community members who have mentored undergraduate students on research and creative activities and who foster a culture of student scholarship in support of Mason’s Students as Scholars initiative. 
  • Nominated for the George Mason University Teaching Excellence Award in 2013. This award recognized outstanding faculty for their educational contributions to enhancing student learning at the university.
  • Published an article titled, “Insider Trading in Loss Firms” in Advances in Accounting in 2013.
  • Presented the paper titled “Fiduciary Duties of Directors and Accounting Conservatism” (with Long Chen and Mikhail Pevzner) at the 2012 Virginia Accounting Research Conference in Charlottesville, VA in May 2012. 
  • Awarded the Beta Alpha Psi Philip A Blanchard Award for excellence in undergraduate education given in recognition as the Accounting faculty member of the year from George Mason University in 2012.
  • Presented (with Long Chen and Mikhail Pevzner) the paper titled “Fiduciary Duties of Directors and Accounting Conservatism” at the George Mason University Accounting Research Seminar in Fairfax, Virginia in March 2012. 
  • Presented the paper titled “Board Term Limits and Earnings Quality” (with Min Shen and coauthors) at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York in 2011. 
  • Presented the paper titled “Experience vs. Entrenchment: Understanding the Determinants and Effects of Outside Directors' Tenure” at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. 
  • Published an article titled, “On the Analysis of Firms' Cash Flows” (with coauthors) in Contemporary Accounting Research.

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