Lifetime Achievement Award
Accounting Chair Steven Kachelmeier Garners Coveted Award for Scholarship
The American Accounting Association (AAA) presented its Lifetime Achievement Award for Behavioral Accounting Research to Steven Kachelmeier, a professor and chair of the Department of Accounting at The University of Texas McCombs School of Business. Kachelmeier, the Thomas O. Hicks Endowed Chair in Business, accepted this prestigious award during the weekend at the association’s 2024 Accounting Behavior and Organizations Research Conference in Montreal.
“Everyone at McCombs celebrates with Steve on this tremendous and thoroughly deserved honor,” said Texas McCombs Dean Lillian Mills. “Steve’s scholarship in behavioral accounting represents an incredible contribution to the field, the impact of which is felt every semester on campus — both through his award-winning teaching and through his leadership of the country’s top accounting program.”
The AAA’s Lifetime Contribution Award is given to an individual who has contributed substantially to the theory and practice of behavioral accounting research. “Steve’s original research has made tremendous contributions to scholarship and practice across many accounting subdisciplines,” the award selection committee said in a statement, adding that his work has bridged experimental traditions in economics and psychology. “In short, Steve’s influence in our field runs deep and wide.”
Kachelmeier’s work explores financial performance and management, often applying the methods of experimental economics to studies of human behavior. One of his most groundbreaking articles — written for The American Economic Review — examines people’s financial risk-taking preferences under high monetary incentives. He has published extensively in top accounting and economics journals, including The Accounting Review, the Journal of Accounting Research, and The American Economic Review.
Kachelmeier joined the McCombs faculty after earning a Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 1988. He has served as senior editor of The Accounting Review and as vice president for research on the board of directors of the AAA. In 2022, he began his term as chair of the Department of Accounting. The school’s undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral accounting programs are ranked No. 1 by U.S. News & World Report.
“It’s an honor to be recognized by my academic peers,” said Kachelmeier. “I’m passionate about behavioral research because accounting is shaped fundamentally by social interactions. It’s a passion I try to instill in our students.”
