Luann J. Lynch

Luann J. Lynch

Almand R. Coleman Professor of Business Administration

Office

FOB 289

Academic Area

Areas of Expertise

Incentive and Compensation Systems

Education: B.S., Meredith College; MBA, Duke University; Ph.D., University of North Carolina

Almand R. Coleman Professor of Business Administration Luann J. Lynch teaches Accounting in the First Year core MBA program and a Second Year elective in management accounting. She is frequently recognized for her outstanding teaching; she was the recipient of the University of Virginia Alumni Board of Trustees Teaching Award and elected faculty marshal in 2000 and 2013, was nominated for the Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) in 2001, has been recognized as an Outstanding Professor in BusinessWeek’s Guide to the Best Business Schools and is frequently nominated for the Outstanding Faculty Award at Darden.

Her research interests are primarily in the design and impact of incentive and compensation systems. The focus of her work can be broadly characterized as an exploration of how incentives and compensation systems are structured to encourage the desired behavior by the individuals or organizations. In particular, her work has examined incentive issues associated with stock options, compensation in post-merger integration efforts and the effect of financial reporting, accounting and regulation on incentive compensation. She has published her work in leading accounting and finance journals, including The Accounting ReviewJournal of Accounting and EconomicsJournal of Financial Economics and Review of Accounting Studies. From 2006 to 2009, she held the Robert F. Vandell research chair at Darden in recognition of her research contributions. In 2006, she received the Glen McLaughlin Prize for Research in Accounting Ethics for work related to compensation around the implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. From 2005 to 2008, she served as Darden’s associate dean for intellectual capital.

Lynch spent the 2004–05 academic year teaching at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Prior to joining the faculty at the Darden School, she taught in the master of accounting program at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina. She was assistant vice president at Roche Biomedical Laboratories Inc., held positions in finance and accounting at Roche, Northern Telecom (NorTel) and Procter & Gamble. She holds an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and a doctorate in accounting from the University of North Carolina.

 

Selected Publications

Albuquerque, A., M.E. Carter and L.J. Lynch. "Court Intervention as a Governance Mechanism Over CEO Pay: Evidence From the Citigroup Derivative Lawsuit," European Accounting Review special issue on Regulation and Disclosure of Executive Compensation, (forthcoming).

Cadman, B., M.E. Carter and  L.J. Lynch. "Executive Compensation Restrictions: Do They Restrict Firms' Willingness to Participate in Tarp?"  Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, Vol. 39, No. 7 (2012): p. 997-1027.

Lynch, Luann J. and Susan Perry Williams. "Does Equity Compensation Compromise Audit Committee Independence? Evidence from Earnings Management,"  Journal of Managerial Issues, Vol. XXIV, No. 3 (2012): p. 293-320.

Frank, M.M., L.J. Lynch and S.O. Rego, (2009), "Tax Reporting Aggressiveness and Its Relation to Aggressive Financial Reporting,"  The Accounting Review, 84 (2), p. 467-496.

Carter, M.E., L.J. Lynch and S.C. Zechman, (2009), "Changes in Bonus Contracts in the Post-Sarbanes-Oxley Era,"  Review of Accounting Studies, 14 (4).

Carter, M.E., L.J. Lynch and A.I. Tuna, (2007), "The Role of Accounting in the Design of CEO Equity Compensation,"  The Accounting Review, 82 (2), p. 327-358.

Carter, M.E. and L.J. Lynch,(2004), "The Effect of Stock Option Repricing on Employee Turnover,"  Journal of Accounting and Economics, 37 (1), p. 91-112.

Balachandran, S., M.E. Carter and L.J. Lynch,(2004), "Sink or Swim? Firms' Responses to Underwater Stock Options,"  Journal of Management Accounting Research special issue on The Use of Stock Options in Employee Incentive Plans, Vol. 16, p. 1-18.

Carter, M.E. and L.J. Lynch, (2003), "The Consequences of the FASB's 1998 Proposal on Accounting for Stock Option Repricing,"  Journal of Accounting and Economics, 35 (1), p. 51-72.

L.J. Lynch, (2003), "The Effect of Medicare Capital Prospective Payment Regulation: Additional Evidence From Hospital Financing Decisions,"  Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 22 (2), p. 151-173.

L.J. Lynch and S. Perry, (2003), "An Overview of Management Compensation," with S. Perry, Journal of Accounting Education, 21 (1), p. 43-60.

L.J. Lynch and S. Perry, (2002), "An Examination of Pre-Merger Executive Compensation Structure in Merging Firms,"  Journal of Managerial Issues, XIV (3), p. 279-295.

Carter, M.E. and L.J. Lynch, (2001), "An Examination of Executive Stock Option Repricing,"  Journal of Financial Economics, 61, p. 207-225.

 

Books

Allen, B.R., E.R. Brownlee, M.E. Haskins and L.J. Lynch,(2010), Cases in Managerial and Cost Accounting, Cambridge Business Publishers.

Allen, B.R., E.R. Brownlee, M.E. Haskins, and  L.J. Lynch,(2010) Instructor's Manual for Cases to accompany  Managerial and Cost Accounting. Cambridge Business Publishing.

Allen, B.R. and L.J. Lynch,(2006), The Executive's Guide to Management Accounting and Control Systems, 7th edition, Thomson.

Allen, B.R., E.R. Brownlee, M.E. Haskins and L.J. Lynch, (2004), Cases in Management Accounting and Control Systems, 4th edition, Prentice Hall.

 

Working Papers

Frank, M.M., L.J. Lynch, S.O. Rego, and R. Zhao, (2015), "Do Firms with Aggressive Reporting Practices Engage in Decisions Indicative of a Risk-Taking Corporate Culture?"

Albuquerque, A., M.E. Carter and L.J. Lynch, (2014), "Complexity of CEO Compensation Packages: Obfuscation or Transparency?"

Carter, M.E., and L.J. Lynch, (2014), "Academic Research on SFAS 123R: Prepared for the Financial Accounting Foundation's Post Implementation Review of SFAS 123R: Share-Based Payments."

Carter, M.E., and L.J. Lynch, (2014), "Compensation Committee Attributes and the Treatment of Earnings in Bonuses."

Cadman B., M.E. Carter and L.J. Lynch, (2010), "Executive Pay Restrictions: Do They Restrict Firms' Willingness to Participate in TARP?"

Lynch, L.J., G. Pownall and P. Simko, (2010), "Voluntary Disclosures of Organic Growth."

Frank, M.M., L.J. Lynch and S.O. Rego, (2009), "Are Aggressive Reporting Practices Associated With Other Aggressive Corporate Policies?"

Lynch, L.J. and S.P. Williams, (2009), "Does Equity Compensation Compromise Audit Committee Independence? Evidence From Earnings Management."

Carter, M.E., L.J. Lynch and T. Zamora, (2009), "The Americanization of CEO Pay in European Firms."

Carter, M.E. and L.J. Lynch,(2007), "Agency Issues in Compensation Contract Design: Evidence From the Change in Accounting for Stock Option Repricings."

 

Case Studies

Advancing knowledge through research that shapes business, Darden professors are recognized thought leaders in their fields. They are not only master case method teachers, they also author many of the cases used in Darden classrooms and around the world.

Luann J. Lynch's cases are available in the Darden Business Publishing website.