Accounting Area Page

The Montano Student Investment Fund provides experiential learning for student leaders

Greg Johnson — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 20:28:24 +0000

The Montano Student Investment Fund provides experiential learning for student leaders Greg Johnson Thu, 03/21/2024 - 16:28

Co-founded in 2018 by Trevor Montano, BS Accounting ’00, and Derek Horstmeyer, a professor of finance at the Costello College of Business at ��, the Montano Student Investment Fund (SMIF) is an all-equity investment fund administered by finance students at the Costello College of Business.

Montano Student Investment Fund Officers

Under the supervision of ��’s Endowment and Board of Trustees, students working on the fund engage in incredible experiences, like building the portfolio, presenting pitches to a committee, and expanding their overall financial expertise in an academic setting. Participants must first complete Finance 477, the student management investment fund course for students to practice pitching stock.

Students selected as officers have the responsibility of managing Mason’s endowment for their respective terms. “The student officers of the Montano SMIF have a huge amount of responsibility and they all take it seriously,” says Horstmeyer. “In addition to managing a segment of the GMU endowment, they help lead Costello Fellows on Wall Street, compete in a nationwide SMIF competition in Chicago each year, and run the Alpha Challenge.”

It was during the Finance 477 course that Christopher Lindholm discovered his passion. “I had been coming to school for marketing, but finance really scratched that itch,” he says. Lindholm became so interested in the subject matter that he was eager to get involved and is currently the president of the investment committee on the SMIF. In order to be an officer for the fund, students must apply and interview with Derek Horstmeyer. “The main thing that made me want to apply for this officer position was Dr. Horstmeyer, like the way he teaches and how he’s so invested in it,” says Clarita Orosco, vice president of the risk committee. “It made me excited to learn more.”

The SMIF has attracted the attention of some of the business school’s most ambitious finance students. “I thought this was a great way for me to get involved on campus, pursue my own interests, and learn more by talking to other finance students and hearing their ideas and different perspectives,” says Sriprajna Medicherla, president of the operations and finance committee. “In finance it’s all about perspective and figuring out what the best decision is given the information.” Medicherla and a few of her teammates got to hear even more perspectives when they went to Chicago for a competition with about fifty other student managed investment fund groups from other universities. “Meeting other SMIF officers from different universities was really interesting and so was hearing their ideas about what they implemented in the fund,” she says.

It is not required to be a finance concentration or even a business major to take part in the SMIF. Gabriel Curtis, president of the risk committee, who is majoring in computer science and minoring in finance, had been exploring ways in which he could make an impact in areas besides computer science. “In finance there’s a lot of opportunities to be a generalist, and that’s honestly what I care about a lot more,” he says.

Every year, the SMIF’s officers present the annual report to the Board of Trustees, showing what was in the portfolio and how everything performed. “You get real world experience with them that you probably wouldn’t find in a typical finance course,” says Lindholm. The ability to manage a real investment fund while receiving active feedback in a classroom setting is an experience that benefits all of the participants, regardless of their career ambitions. “I would say I was able to be more informed,” says Curtis. “I’ve gotten to talk to people who graduated and work in investment banking. That’s where I’m headed now because of the fund.” Orosco adds, “I didn’t realize how many opportunities there were and how many news things Dr. Horstmeyer wanted us to explore.”

The networking, knowledge, and confidence that these students have acquired through working on the Montano Student Investment Fund have given them the immersive student experience promised at the Costello College of Business. “This much responsibility shows through on their resumes – past officers of the SMIF have gone on to work at Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and private equity shops in New York City, Chicago, and Austin,” says Horstmeyer. Not only are the student leaders prepared for their careers but they are actively being recruited by employers.

Topics

Costello College of Business News

Accounting Area Page

Costello College of Business Students

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Student Managed Investment Fund

Students

Alumni

Learn more about the Montano Student Investment Fund

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In This Story

Derek Horstmeyer

Joseph (Han) Stice

Marianne Klinker — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 14:21:09 +0000

Joseph (Han) Stice Marianne Klinker Wed, 08/23/2023 - 10:21

Associate Professor, Accounting

Contact Information

Email: jstice@gmu.edu

Biography

Han Stice joins �� after spending seven years at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from Brigham Young University, and his PhD in accounting from the University of Florida. His research is primarily in accounting and focuses on information use and transfer by and among market participants. In addition to his research in accounting, he is also interested in both finance and behavioral economics. He has published in a wide array of journals including the Journal of Accounting Research, Contemporary Accounting Research, Review of Accounting Studies, Journal of Corporate Finance, and Journal of Media Economics. He has experience teaching financial and managerial accounting, as well as auditing and financial statement analysis. Han comes from a family of accountants and has collaborated with various members of his family on a wide array of accounting projects. In his free time, he enjoys playing games and traveling with his wife Amber, and their four children.

Education

PhD - University of Florida
BSA and MSA - Brigham Young University

Media Clippings

November 12, 2025 - The Horizons Tracker
Why Losing Local Newspapers Costs More Than We Think
October 20, 2025 - Business Insider
After the H-1B visa fee hike, global teams are looking like the future of work
December 10, 2024 - HR Dive
Deloitte employees with H-1B visas were paid 10% less than US workers, report finds

June Woo Park

Marianne Klinker — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 14:17:27 +0000

June Woo Park Marianne Klinker Wed, 08/23/2023 - 10:17

Instructional Assistant Professor, Accounting

Contact Information

Email: jpark274@gmu.edu
Office Location: Enterprise Hall, 239

Biography

June Woo Park joins the Costello College of Business from Saint Mary’s College of California. He has a PhD in accounting with a minor in finance from the Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto, Canada. His teaching interests include data analytics, auditing with data analytics, accounting information systems, financial accounting, financial statement analysis, and managerial accounting. His research interests include CEO personal traits, disclosure, analyst/management forecasts, behavioral finance, international capital markets, earnings management, corporate social responsibility, and textual analysis. June recently published a paper in The British Accounting Review and has several working papers.

Education

PhD - Accounting, Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto, Canada

Media Clippings

June 13, 2025 - Tredencias
We were led to believe that being left-handed was the secret to the success of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg. The reality is a little more complicated.
May 2, 2025 - Daily Mail
Scientists reveal the surprising secret to Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg's success
April 27, 2025 - Psychology Today
Do Left-Handed Leaders Fuel Innovation in Business?

Yi Cao

Marianne Klinker — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 14:12:07 +0000

Yi Cao Marianne Klinker Wed, 08/23/2023 - 10:12

Assistant Professor, Accounting

Contact Information

Email: ycao25@gmu.edu
Office Location: Enterprise Hall, 224

Biography

Before joining Mason, Yi Cao worked at the School of Management and Economics of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen as an assistant professor of accounting. He obtained his PhD in accounting from the University of Maryland, R.H. Smith School of Business. Prior to entering the PhD program, he worked at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and other financial institutions in the United States. He has a broad range of research interests that relate to corporate voluntary disclosure channels, the interaction of labor economics and financial reporting quality, and capital market study using novel tools such as LLM and other machine learning and textual analysis techniques. Yi’s research interests include corporate voluntary disclosure, product market competition, financial disclosure quality, and textual analysis, and has been published in Contemporary Accounting Research.

Research Interests

Corporate voluntary disclosure
Product market competition
Financial disclosure quality
Textual analysis

Education

PhD - University of Maryland, R.H. Smith School of Business

Media Clippings

December 21, 2023 - AAC&U.org Academic Minute Podcast
Yi Cao, �� – A.I. and Earnings Calls
September 13, 2023 - Financial Times
ChatGPT should do your earnings calls
September 7, 2023 - Bloomberg
Don’t Let a Robot Do the Earnings Call

Steven Maex

Marianne Klinker — Tue, 26 Jul 2022 14:53:32 +0000

Steven Maex Marianne Klinker Tue, 07/26/2022 - 10:53

Assistant Professor, Accounting

Contact Information

Email: smaex@gmu.edu
Office Location: Enterprise Hall, 222
Office Hours: By appointment

Personal Websites

StevenMaex.com

Biography

Steve Maex (PhD, CPA, CISA, CITP) is an Assistant Professor of Accounting at the Costello College of Business at ��. He obtained his PhD from Temple University’s Fox School of Business, and prior to that, he spent seven years as an IT Auditor and Data Analytics Specialist at KPMG LLP. He is a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Information Systems Auditor and strives to bring his experience as a practitioner to both his teaching and research. As a teacher, he coordinates ��’s Graduate Certificate in Accounting Analytics and has been recognized as Teacher of the Year in the Master of Science in Accounting program for each of the past three years. His research focuses on auditing, assurance, and financial reporting quality, with particular interest in the effects of emerging trends in information management (e.g., cloud services, privacy regulation) on firms and their auditors, audit firm quality control systems, as well as assurance in the cryptocurrency marketplace. His work has been published in the Review of Accounting Studies, Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, and Accounting Horizons and is forthcoming in Management Science. Additionally, his dissertation on the implications of modern privacy regulation for firm information quality won the 2023 American Accounting Association’s International Accounting Section Dissertation Award. In his free time, Steve enjoys golfing and spending time with his wife and two sons.

Research Interests

Auditing
Accounting Information Systems
Emerging Technologies
Cryptocurrency
Information Governance and Management

Education

PhD - Accounting, Temple University
BBA - Accounting and Information Systems, Loyola University Maryland

Research and Awards

Khavis, Josh A., Jagan Krishnan, Steven A. Maex, and Colin Tipton. 2025. Remote Work and Auditors’ Work-Life Balance: Disproportionate Impacts on Engagement Leaders. Accounting Horizons. Forthcoming.
Knechel, W. Robert, Steven A. Maex, and Hyun Jong Park. 2025. The Role of Auditor Reputation in an Emerging Audit Marketplace: Evidence from Decentralized Finance (DeFi). Management Science. Forthcoming.
Maex, Steven A., and Stefan Slavov. 2025. Initial Evidence on the Content and Market Implications of Stablecoin Reserve Reporting. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy 51: 107309.
Krishnan, Jagan, Jayanthi Krishnan, and Steven A. Maex. 2024. Does Audit Firm Hiring of Former PCAOB Personnel Improve Audit Quality? Review of Accounting Studies 29: 3130–3175.
Banker, Rajiv D., Xiaorong Li, Steven A. Maex, and Wenyun Shi. 2020. The Audit Implications of Cloud Computing. Accounting Horizons 34 (4): 1–31.
AIS/SET Conference Best Research Paper Award, American Accounting Association, 2024
Outstanding International Accounting Dissertation, American Accounting Association, 2023

David S. Koo

Marianne Klinker — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 19:19:53 +0000

David S. Koo Marianne Klinker Thu, 08/19/2021 - 15:19

Assistant Professor, Accounting

Contact Information

Email: skoo6@gmu.edu
Office Location: Enterprise Hall, 238
Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday 10:30 to 11:45 a.m.

Biography

David Koo is an assistant professor of accounting in the Costello College of Business at ��. Prior to joining Mason in Fall 2021, he was a faculty member at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Prior to his academic career, Koo worked as an accounting and financial professional at Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation, Korea Army Finance & Accounting Corps, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. His teaching expertise includes managerial and financial accounting, and data analytics. He currently teaches Intermediate Accounting and Cost/Managerial Accounting courses. Past courses include Accounting Control Systems and Data Analytics in Management Accounting.

Research Interests

Interaction between Managerial Accounting and Financial Reporting/Disclosure
Economic Effects of Corporate Reporting and Disclosure
Information Transfer of Financial and Accounting Information

Research

"Memory, Retrieved Context, and Bias in Management Earnings Forecasts" (coauthored with I. Y. Wang and S. Wu), Management Science, Forthcoming.
"The Road Not Taken: Evaluating the Consequences of the U.S.’s Non-Adoption of IFRS in 2012" (coauthored with J. X. Jiang and I. Y. Wang), The International Journal of Accounting, Forthcoming.
"Does more frequent financial reporting bring the future forward?" (coauthored with J. D’Adduzio, S. Ramalingegowda and Y. Yu), Accounting Horizons, 2024.
“Do Career Concerns Affect the Delay of Bad News Disclosure?” (coauthored with S. Baginski, J. Campbell, and L. Hinson), The Accounting Review, 2018.
“Influential Chief Marketing Officers and Management Revenue Forecasts” (coauthored with D. Lee), The Accounting Review, 2018.
“The Effect of Financial Reporting Quality on Corporate Dividend Policy” (coauthored with S. Ramalingegowda and Y. Yu), Review of Accounting Studies, 2017.
“Earnings Attribution and Information Transfers” (coauthored with J. Wu, and E. Yeung), Contemporary Accounting Research, 2017.

Awards

Outstanding Professor in Accounting 2024-2025

Media Clippings

September 15, 2025 - Associated Press
Trump says the US should do away with quarterly earnings reports
May 30, 2024 - Accounting Today
Frequent financial reporting helps investors predict performance

Download CV

Young Hoon Kim

Marianne Klinker — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 20:38:39 +0000

Young Hoon Kim Marianne Klinker Thu, 08/05/2021 - 16:38

Assistant Professor, Accounting

Contact Information

Email: ykim204@gmu.edu
Office: Enterprise Hall 237
Office Hours: By appointment

Personal Websites

Young Hoon Kim

Biography

Young Kim joined the accounting faculty at Mason in 2020 after completing his PhD at Texas A&M University. He holds a bachelor's degree from Korea University and a master's degree from The University of Texas at Austin. Before coming to academics, he worked as an auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers in South Korea and in Houston. His main research interests include global audit networks, audit regulations, and auditor demand. He currently teaches Auditing.

Research and Awards

Research:

"Does Audit Partner Individualism Reduce Client Earnings Comparability? Evidence from the U.S.” (Coauthored with Yinghua Li and Dechun Wang) Contemporary Accounting Research, 2025.
"Auditor distraction: The case of outside job opportunities for external auditors and audit quality" (coauthored with Matt Ege and Dechun Wang) Contemporary Accounting Research, 2024.
"The demand for internal auditors following accounting and operational failures" (coauthored with Matt Ege and Dechun Wang) The Accounting Review, 2023.
“Do PCAOB inspections of foreign auditors improve global financial reporting comparability?” (coauthored with Matt Ege and Dechun Wang) Contemporary Accounting Research, 2021.
"Do global audit firm networks apply consistent audit methodologies across jurisdictions: Evidence from financial reporting comparability" (coauthored with Matt Ege and Dechun Wang) The Accounting Review, 2020.

Awards:

Outstanding Professor in Major 2022-2023
Outstanding Professor in Major 2021-2022

Media Clippings

July 10, 2025 - Accounting Today
Auditors with unusual names deviated from rules, study finds
July 9, 2025 - Going Concern Blog
Researchers Determine That Big 4 Audit Partners Not Named Michael or Jennifer Are More Likely to Bend the Rules
December 13, 2024 - Going Concern Blog
Private Equity Explains Their Accounting Endgame; Overworked Auditors and Their Wandering Eyes
May 31, 2023 - richardchambers.com
New Research: Companies Appreciate Internal Audit More After They Get in Trouble
May 23, 2023 - Accounting Today
Companies seek internal auditors when they get in trouble

Eugenia (Peggy) Tsirigotis

Marianne Klinker — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 20:53:14 +0000

Eugenia (Peggy) Tsirigotis Marianne Klinker Mon, 08/02/2021 - 16:53

Assistant Area Chair, Accounting
Additional Roles: Senior Instructor, Accounting

Contact Information

Email: etsirigo@gmu.edu
Office Location: Enterprise Hall, 223
Office Hours: By appointment

Biography

Peggy Tsirigotis, an Assistant Area Chair and Senior Instructor of Accounting at the Costello College of Business at ��, extends beyond traditional education; she champions the excitement of accounting. With a rich background spanning public accounting, corporate accounting, nonprofit accounting, and small business consultancy, Tsirigotis infuses her teaching with practical wisdom.

This wealth of experience directly enriches the classroom with tangible real-world insights. Tsirigotis is a passionate advocate, inspiring students to embrace accounting with enthusiasm. Her aim is to make accounting not only understandable and relevant to their personal and professional lives but also enjoyable. Tsirigotis is a Certified Public Accountant, licensed in Maryland and a member for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Education

MSB - Accounting and Financial Management, Johns Hopkins University Carey School of Business in Baltimore, Maryland.
BSBA - Accounting, American University in Washington, D.C.
Harvard Higher Education Teaching Certificate, The Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning

Awards

Dean's Teaching Faculty Fellow
Commendation for Engaged Teaching
Faculty Career Connection Award
Teaching Excellence Award Nomination

Maria Nykyforovych

Marianne Klinker — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 20:29:37 +0000

Maria Nykyforovych Marianne Klinker Mon, 08/02/2021 - 16:29

Assistant Professor, Accounting

Contact Information

Email: mnykyfor@gmu.edu
Phone: (703) 993-1129
Office Location: Enterprise Hall, 232
Office Hours: By appointment

Biography

Maria worked as a Senior Consultant in the Capital Markets division of Cushman&Wakefield in Europe. She has extensive experience in international business development through her work with USAID and SIDA (Swedish Internatinal Development Agency). Maria's research interests lie in the intersection of academic rigor and practical relevance, such as firm valuation, fair value measurements and effects of accounting regulation. As a research fellow at the Kenan Institute for Private Enterprise, she is also involved in private equity and venture capital research.

Education

PhD - Accounting -- University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
MBA - Finance -- University of North Florida
Bachelor's and Master's -- International Economics -- Institute of International Relations in Kiev, Ukraine.

Media Clippings

September 23, 2024 - Financial Times
Private equity roll-ups of accounting firms could run into trouble

Kelly Wentland

Marianne Klinker — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 21:27:12 +0000

Kelly Wentland Marianne Klinker Thu, 07/29/2021 - 17:27

Associate Professor, Accounting

Contact Information

Email: kwentlan@gmu.edu
Phone: (703) 993-5476
Office Location: Enterprise Hall 232
Office Hours: By appointment

Personal Websites

KellyWentland.com

Biography

Kelly Wentland is an associate professor of accounting in the Costello College of Business at ��. Prior to coming to Mason, she was an AICPA Accounting Doctoral Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her primary research interests are in taxation, accounting information, and firm decision making. She has published in The Accounting Review, Management Science, the Journal of the American Taxation Association, and the Journal of Housing Economics. Before entering her PhD program, she completed her bachelor’s in accounting and mass communication at Miami University of Ohio and worked in KPMG’s Washington, D.C., and Tysons Corner, VA offices first in audit and then in tax. She holds a Virginia CPA license (license active 2008-2019; expired status since 2020).

Research Interests

Taxation
Accounting information
Firm decision making

Education

PhD - Accounting, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
BS - Accounting and Mass Communication, Miami University of Ohio

Research and Awards

Received a Research Award for her dissertation titled "The Effect of Industrial Diversification on Firm Taxes" from AAA/Grant Thornton in 2015
Received the 2023 GMU Career Connection Award and was nominated for the 2023 GMU Teaching Excellence Award and GMU Online Teaching Excellence Award

Accounting Area Page

The Montano Student Investment Fund provides experiential learning for student leaders

Topics

In This Story

Joseph (Han) Stice

Contact Information

Biography

Education

Media Clippings

June Woo Park

Contact Information

Biography

Education

Media Clippings

Yi Cao

Contact Information

Biography

Research Interests

Education

Media Clippings

Steven Maex

Contact Information

Personal Websites

Biography

Research Interests

Education

Research and Awards

David S. Koo

Contact Information

Biography

Research Interests

Research

Awards

Media Clippings

Young Hoon Kim

Contact Information

Personal Websites

Biography

Research and Awards

Research:

Awards:

Media Clippings

Eugenia (Peggy) Tsirigotis

Contact Information

Biography

Education

Awards

Maria Nykyforovych

Contact Information

Biography

Education

Media Clippings

Kelly Wentland

Contact Information

Personal Websites

Biography

Research Interests

Education

Research and Awards

Teaching Interests