School collaborates on prominent finance conference
U.S. Treasury requests assistance from KU professor
School staff member earns praise

School collaborates on prominent finance conference

The KU School of Business co-sponsored a prestigious conference in Washington, D.C., to explore recent mergers and acquisitions activity of financial firms. Bob DeYoung, Capital Federal Professor in Financial Markets and Institutions, helped organize the conference and served as a chairperson for the event.

The Nov. 30-Dec. 1 conference, “Mergers and Acquisitions of Financial Institutions,” brought together academics, economists, government regulators and industry professionals. Participants came from Japan, China, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States.

“During the past 10 years,” DeYoung said, “there has been $1.7 trillion worth of mergers among U.S. financial institutions, $1.4 trillion worth of mergers among financial institutions in Europe, and nearly $1 trillion of cross-border mergers between U.S. and European firms.”

In addition to the school, several high-profile organizations sponsored the conference, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

DeYoung joined the faculty this past fall. Before coming to Kansas, he served as the associate director of research within the division of insurance and research for the FDIC.

U.S. Treasury requests assistance from KU professor

The U.S. Treasury Department selected associate professor and Harper Faculty Fellow Susan Scholz for an upcoming research study. The project will inspect the repercussions of and reasons for the recent rash of public company financial restatements.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has vowed to gain a tighter grasp on this issue, reiterating his fervor in May when he unveiled the auditing and accounting stage of his capital markets competitive initiative.

Scholz will examine factors triggering public company financial restatements and evaluate the significance of those restatements on investors and the capital markets. The study will analyze restatements made from 1997 to 2006.

The results of Scholz’s research are expected to be available to the public in early 2008.

School staff member earns praise

KU recently awarded Anne Madden Johnson, the School of Business’ network administrator, the Unclassified Non-Teaching Employee of the Month Award.

Johnson received a surprise visit from Vice Provost Don Steeples, who presented the award, which recognizes impressive efforts in supporting the KU community. Besides her work for the school, Johnson serves as one of a select group of field security officers, specially trained and certified by the KU IT Security Office.

Visit the School of Business Web site for more information.