Andrew Imdieke wins Wildman Award for his impactful accounting research

Andrew Imdieke, assistant professor of Accountancy at the University of Notre Dame, has been recognized with the 2023 Deloitte Foundation Wildman Medal Award. Bestowed by the American Accounting Association, the honor aims to highlight one research study published in the past five years that has “made or will be likely to make the most significant contribution to the advancement of the practice of public accountancy."

Imdieke and his co-authors Dain Donelson from the University of Iowa, Matthew Ege from Texas A&M University, and Eldar Maksymov from Arizona State University received the award for their paper, “The Revival of Large Consulting Practices at the Big 4 and Audit Quality,” published in Accounting, Organizations and Society. The study examines how the Big 4 accounting firms have acquired a number of consulting firms, which has led to regulatory concerns about the potentially negative effects on audit quality. While audit firms say consulting can improve audit quality, the researchers found support for both sides of the argument and showed that the effect of consulting firm acquisitions on audit quality depends on how closely the acquired services relate to the audit. The Deloitte Foundation Wildman Medal Award was established to commemorate John Wildman to “encourage research relevant to the professional practice of accounting.” Imdieke and his co-authors will receive a medal and monetary prize at the American Accounting Association’s Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado, on August 7, 2023.As a professor at the Mendoza College of Business, Imdieke’s research focuses on internal controls over financial reporting and on factors that impact audit quality. His research has been published in leading accounting journals including The Journal of Accounting & Economics, Contemporary Accounting Research, Accounting Organizations & Society, and Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory. He currently serves on the Editorial Board for The Accounting Review, Contemporary Accounting Research, and Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory.