Henock Louis
Professor
Department Head
Henock Louis is the KPMG Professor and the Head of the Accounting Department at Penn State University. His work has been published in the top accounting and finance journals. He has conducted seminars at a host of major universities worldwide and received the 2005 Excellence in Research Award from the American Accounting Association Diversity Section. He is an editor for The Accounting Review, the Accounting Horizons, and the International Journal of Accounting. He has also served on the editorial boards of the Accounting Review and the Contemporary Accounting Research, and as an ad hoc reviewer for all the major accounting and finance journals. Professor Louis holds a Ph.D. in Accounting from Ohio State University and a Ph.D. in Finance and a master’s in accounting from the University of Mississippi.
Expertise
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=332332
Education
Ph D in Accounting, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 2001-09-01 Ph D in Finance, The University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi, 1998-08-31 MS in Accounting, The University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi, 1998-08-30 MBA in Business, Andrews University, Berrien County, MI, USA, 1992-01-01
Courses Taught
ACCTG 471 – Intermediate Financial Accounting I
Theory and practice issues in income concepts and value measurement; GAAP; revenues, costs, assets, liabilities, and equities.
ACCTG 481 – Fin Anal Eval Dec
An accounting based evaluation and decision making approach to analyzing financial statements by studying business and firm valuation.ACCTG 481 Financial Statement Analysis (3) The proposed course in financial statement analysis is structured to improve the student's ability to extract and interpret information from actual financial statements and to expose the student to how financial statement information is integrated into equity valuation and credit analysis. The course would not only rely upon textbook-based and lecture-based learning, but also emphasize case-based learning.The course will consist of two main sections. The first will deal with accounting and business analysis. This part will explore the types of financial information data typically available for publicly traded companies and introduce a model of the economic drivers of company performance. It would incorporate some technical accounting as well as some standards business economics/strategy concepts. Students will be forced to recast financial statements that they believe do not reflect the underlying economic state of the company. Financial reporting issues relating to revenue and expense recognition, leases and consolidations will be discussed.The other section of the course will deal with firm valuation. Students would be exposed to some standard approaches to equity valuation and the analysis activities underlying these approaches. Aspects of valuation that would be covered in this section of the course are financial ratio analysis, forecasting, pro-forma statements, cost of capital and valuation methods.The course will rely on lectures and extensive use of case studies.
ACCTG 481 – Financial Statement Analysis: Accounting Based Evaluation and Decision Making
An accounting based evaluation and decision making approach to analyzing financial statements by studying business and firm valuation.
ACCTG 496 – Indep Studies
Creative projects, including research and design, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.
ACCTG 496 – Independent Studies
Creative projects, including research and design, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.
ACCTG 501 – Res Meth Acctg
ACCTG 501 – Research Methods in Accounting
An introduction to the methods and techniques of contemporary research in accounting.
ACCTG 560 – Accounting and Business Analysis
Develop ability to assess the relation between accounting data in financial statements and the economic fundamentals represented.
ACCTG 590 – Colloquium
Continuing seminars which consist of a series of individual lectures by faculty, students, or outside speakers.
ACCTG 596 – Individual Studies
Creative projects, including nonthesis research, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.
ACCTG 597 – Special Topics
Formal courses given on a topical or special interest subject which may be offered infrequently; several different topics may be taught in one year or term.
ACCTG 597D – Research Methods in Accounting (D)
Research methods in accounting.
ACCTG 881 – Fin Stat Anlys
Analysis of financial reports to identify business strategy, assess performance and economic standing, and value claims.
ACCTG 881 – Financial Statement Analysis
Analysis of financial reports to identify business strategy, assess performance and economic standing, and value claims.
B A 574 – Business Research
A project paper, comparable in quality and scope of work to a graduate thesis, on problems of a company.
Selected Publications
Du K., Louis H., Schmidt B., Wang S. "Principal-versus-agent considerations in revenue recognition under ASC 606 and compliance risk" The Accounting Review, 2026-01-01
Green J., Louis H., Sani J. "Intangible investments, scaling, and the trend in the accruals-cash flows association" Journal of Accounting Research, 2022-01-01
Louis H., Ge R., Ji Y. "Accounting quality and alliance contract provisions" The Accounting Review, 2021-01-01
Chen Y., Ge R., Louis H., Zolotoy L. "Stock Liquidity and Corporate Tax Avoidance" Review of Accounting Studies, 2019-01-01
Louis H., Pearson T., Robinson D., Robinson M., Sun A. "The effects of the extant clauses limiting auditor liability on audit fees and overall reporting quality" Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 2019-01-01
Chung S., Louis H. "Earnings announcements and the cross-section of option returns" Journal of Empirical Finance, 2017-01-01
Chung S., Chiang C., Louis H. "Insider trading, stock return volatility, and the option market's pricing of the information content of insider trading" Journal of Banking and Finance, 2017-01-01
Louis H., Sun A. "Abnormal accruals and managerial intent: Evidence from the timing of merger announcements and completions" Contemporary Accounting Research, 2016-01-01
Louis H., Urcan O. "Agency conflicts, dividend payout, and the direct benefits of conservatism to equity-holders" Contemporary Accounting Research, 2015-07-01
Louis H. "Are stock-for-stock acquirers of unlisted targets really less overvalued?" Financial Management, 2013-10-01
Louis H., Sun A., Urcan O. "Do Analysts Sacrifice Forecast Accuracy for Informativeness?" Management Science, 2013-07-01
Louis H., Sun A. "Growth in Housing Prices and Long-Term Abnormal Stock Returns" Real Estate Economics, 2013-01-01
Louis H., Sun X., Urcan O. "Value of Cash Holdings and Accounting Conservatism" Contemporary Accounting Research, 2013-01-01
Louis H., Sun A. "Earnings Management and the Post-Earnings Announcement Drift" Financial Management, vol. 40, 2011-06-01
Louis H., Kimbrough M. "Voluntary Disclosure to Influence Investor Reactions to Merger Announcements: An Examination of Conference Calls" The Accounting Review, vol. 86, 2011-06-01
Louis H., Sun A., White H. "Insider Trading After Repurchase Tender Offer Announcements: Timing Versus Informed Trading" Financial Management, vol. 39, 2010-06-01
Louis H., Sun A. "Investor Inattention and Market Reaction to Merger Announcements" Management Science, vol. 56, 2010-06-01
Louis H., Robinson D. "Managers' and Investors' Responses to Media Exposure of Board Ineffectiveness" Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, vol. 44, 2009-06-01
Louis H., Robinson D., Sbaraglia A. "An integrated analysis of the association between accrual disclosure and the abnormal accrual anomaly" Review of Accounting Studies, vol. 13, 2008-01-01
Gong G., Louis H., Sun X. "Earnings management and firm performance following open-market repurchase" Journal of Finance, vol. 63, 2008-01-01
Gong G., Louis H., Sun X. "Earnings management, lawsuits, and stock-for-stock acquirers' market performance" Journal of Accounting and Economics, vol. 46, 2008-01-01
Louis H., Fischer P. "Financial Reporting and Conflicting Managerial Incentives: The Case of Management Buyouts" Management Science, vol. 54, 2008-01-01
Louis H., White H. "Do managers intentionally use repurchase tender offers to signal private information? Evidence from firm financial reporting behavior" Journal of Financial Economics, vol. 85, 2007-01-01
Louis H. "Acquirers’ abnormal returns and the non-Big 4 auditor clientele effect" Journal of Accounting and Economics, 2005-01-01
Louis H. "Do managers credibly use accruals to signal private information? Evidence from the pricing of discretionary accruals around stock splits" Journal of Accounting and Economics, 2005-01-01
Louis H. "Earnings management and the market performance of acquiring firms" Journal of Financial Economics, 2004-01-01
Louis H. "The cost of using bank mergers as defensive mechanisms against takeover threats" Journal of Business, 2004-01-01
Louis H. "The value relevance of the foreign translation adjustment" The Accounting Review, 2003-01-01