Robert W. Holthausen is the Nomura Securities Company Professor of Accounting and Finance. Prior to coming to Wharton, he was a Professor of Accounting and Finance at the Graduate School of Business of the University of Chicago.
He earned his doctorate at the University of Rochester where he also earned his M.B.A. Prior to his academic career, he was a C.P.A. working at Price Waterhouse and he was also in the finance group at Mobil.
Professor Holthausen is widely published in both finance and accounting journals. His research has studied the effects of management compensation and governance structures on firm performance, the effects of information on volume and prices, corporate restructuring and valuation, the effects of large block sales on common stock prices, and numerous other topics. His research has appeared in such journals as the Journal of Accounting and Economics, The Accounting Review, the Journal of Accounting Research, the Journal of Finance and the Journal of Financial Economics. He has served in various editorial capacities for all five journals listed above; either as consulting editor, associate editor, editorial board member or reviewer. He is currently an editor of the Journal of Accounting and Economics.
His teaching has been concentrated in the areas of investment management and valuation. Currently, his primary teaching responsibility is for the valuation class he developed. He has teaching experience at the undergraduate, M.B.A., and Ph.D. levels and has won teaching awards from both the undergraduate and M.B.A. students at Wharton, including the David J. Hauck award. He is currently the academic director of Wharton’s Mergers and Acquisitions program.
Professor Holthausen has consulted with a variety of companies. His specific consulting engagements are varied and include such diverse activities as serving as a compensation consultant to a Fortune 500 Company, consulting with an investment company in the development of fundamental trading rules used to manage equity portfolios and performing valuation analysis in a variety of situations.
