Alumni Newsletter Fall 2021

Michelle Harding Receives the Diversity Excellence Award

Michelle Harding, assistant professor of Accounting and Information Systems, re- ceived the Diversity Excellence Award for the most recent academic school year. Dr. Harding joined the ACIS Faculty in the fall of 2017 after completing her Ph.D. at the University of Tennessee. In her time at Virginia Tech, she has been a strong ad- vocate for diversity initiatives within the department and college at large. Her con- tributions in this area have raised aware- ness and consciousness about diversity, inclusion, and equity within the context of Virginia Tech and the Pamplin communi- ty from both a faculty and student point of view. Dr. Harding is a well-respected and im-

passioned voice that fosters a collegial aca- demic and work environment that embrac- es excellence and diversity broadly. The Diversity Excellence Award recognizes her contributions as she has demonstrated ex- emplar leadership in the areas of diversity, inclusion, and equity. Dr. Harding has demonstrated strong outreach in both in- formal and formal mentorship of her stu- dents in the areas of diversity and account- ing. An important part of this outreach is her active role and efforts in recruiting diverse faculty and doctoral students to Virginia Tech. Dr. Harding holds a B.S. and M.S. in Accounting from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia and is licensed as a CPA in the state of Florida.

Michelle Harding

Carissa MaloneWins Best PhD Student Paper fromAAAAudit Section Carissa Malone, PhD student, Sean Hillison, assistant professor, and Sudip Bhattacharjee, Tom Wells and Kathy Dargo Professor, were awarded the Best PhD Student Paper Award by the Auditing Section of the American Accounting Association at their 2021 Auditing Midyear Meeting in January 2021. Their paper, Auditing from a Distance: The Impact of Remote Auditing and Supervisor Monitoring on Analytical Procedures Judgments , was selected from conference submissions for the Best PhD Student Paper Award which was established to recognize high-quality submissions to the Auditing Section Midyear Meeting. The paper examines how two remote auditing factors, the distance between the auditor and their client (i.e., whether the auditor is working in the field or remotely) and the frequency of the supervisor’s status update request, can impact auditors’ judgments. They find that when working remotely, auditors considered a greater range of potential causes to explain the unexpected fluctuations in financial statements and exhibit higher decision quality in uncovering the cause of the fluctuations, when asked to provide status updates less frequently rather than more frequently. Therefore, working remotely can enhance audit quality, conditional on the nature of the supervisor’s monitoring. Audit supervisors may consider delicately balancing the frequency of monitoring of remote workers to allow for the benefits of remote auditing to manifest.

Carissa Malone

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