Thomas Lys

Eric L. Kohler Professor Emeritus in Accounting and Professor Emeritus of Accounting Information & Management, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
Thomas Lys

Education

Ph.D. and M.S., accounting and finance, University of Rochester

Summary of Experience

Professor Lys is an expert in accounting and finance, including real estate finance, financial reporting, securities analysis, and M&A. He has testified on issues related to valuation, corporate governance, corporate finance, disclosures in M&A, fairness opinions, antitrust, GAAP compliance, taxes, and contract disputes on behalf of US and foreign government agencies and corporate clients.

Professor Lys’s research interests include risk arbitrage, labor participation in corporate decisions, auditor liability, behavioral finance, negotiations, and earnings forecasts. He has published numerous working papers and articles in refereed journals, as well as a book on negotiation that integrates the rational models of economics with the less-than-rational models of psychology. He also has edited two volumes of Karl Brunner’s work, as well as two book chapters in edited volumes. His research investigates analyst earnings forecasts and stock valuations; efficiency of analyst earnings forecasts; the ability of security analysts to learn from experience; stock price behavior following earnings announcements; properties of estimators of autocorrelation coefficients; the impact of transaction costs for market efficiency; M&A; and investors’ interpretations of corporate social responsibility initiatives.

Professor Lys was an editor of the Journal of Accounting and Economics for 11 years and also served on the editorial board of The Accounting Review. He is a recipient of the American Accounting Association’s Distinguished Contributions to Accounting Literature Award for 2022.

AG Contacts

Andrew Wong

Thomas Lys
Practices