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Jake Thornock

Professor of Accounting and John and Nancy Hardy Chaired Professor,
School of Accountancy
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Biography

Professor Thornock is a professor of accounting in the Marriott School of Management at BYU and holds the John and Nancy Hardy Chaired Professorship. He joined BYU from the University of Washington, where he was a tenured associate professor of accounting and the PwC Faculty Fellow.

Professor Thornock has won numerous teaching awards during his career and has taught at every level, including PhD students, executive MBA students, masters students in sports management, undergraduate accounting students, and incoming analysts at Goldman Sachs. He has also won several research awards, including the Marriott School Outstanding Researcher award, as well as the Karl G. Maeser Research and Creative Arts Award (a university-wide research award).

Professor Thornock has diverse research interests, including interest in taxation, tax havens, earnings information content and information technologies. His research has been accepted for publication at the Journal of Accounting & Economics, Journal of Accounting Research, The Accounting Review, Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Contemporary Accounting Research, Review of Accounting Studies, Management Science and Financial Management. Jake's research has been cited or featured in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Business Week, Bloomberg, Fox News, and NPR, and has been presented at the IRS, the SEC and a congressional subcommittee.

Professor Thornock completed his doctoral studies at Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina, where he was awarded the William Delozier Fellowship for Outstanding Doctoral Student. He earned his undergraduate and master's degrees in accounting at BYU.

Prior to his academic career, Professor Thornock worked as a financial advisor for a regional brokerage firm and as a tax accountant. He has done technical accounting trainings for Goldman Sachs on several occasions in NYC and India. Professor Thornock is a co-founder of Accounting Coding Camp LLC and a co-author of the recently published textbook, “Financial Accounting for Managers,” published by McGraw Hill.

Education

  • PhD, Accounting, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2010
  • BS, Accounting, Brigham Young University, 2006
  • MAcc, Accounting, Brigham Young University, 2006

Selected Publications

  • "Anomaly Time", Journal of Finance, Volume Forthcoming, American Finance Association, 2023
  • "Tax Boycotts", The Accounting Review, Volume Forthcoming, 2023
  • "Earnings Virality", Journal of Accounting and Economics, Edition 1, Volume 75, ScienceDirect, 2023
  • "Financial Accounting for Managers", Edition 1, McGraw-Hill, 2022
  • "Information flows among rivals and corporate investment", Journal of Financial Economics, Edition 3, Volume 136, Pages 760-779, 2020
  • "Is there information content in information acquisition", The Accounting Review, Edition 2, Volume 95, 2020
  • "Auditor benchmarking of client disclosures", Review of Accounting Studies, Volume 24, 2019
  • "The Comovement of Investor Attention", Management Science, Edition 9, Volume 63, 2017
  • "The internet as an information intermediary", Review of Accounting Studies, Edition 2, Volume 22, 2017
  • "An examination of firms’ responses to tax forgiveness", Review of Accounting Studies, Edition 2, Volume 22, Pages 577-607, Springer, 2017
  • "Changes in Corporate Effective Tax Rates Over the Past Twenty-Five Years", Journal of Financial Economics, Edition 3, Volume 124, Pages 441-463, ScienceDirect, 2017
  • "IRS Attention", Journal of Accounting Research, Edition 1, Volume 55, Pages 79–114, Wiley, 2017
  • "The Usefulness of Historical Accounting Reports", Journal of Accounting and Economics, Edition 2-3, Volume 61, Pages 448-464, 2016
  • "March Market Madness: The Impact of Value-Irrelevant Events on the Market Pricing of Earnings News", Contemporary Accounting Research, Edition 1, Volume 33, 2016
  • "Does Use Tax Evasion Provide a Competitive Advantage to E-tailers?", National Tax Journal, Volume 69, Pages 133-168, 2016
  • "The Determinants and Consequences of Information Acquisition via EDGAR", Contemporary Accounting Research, Edition 3, Volume 32, 2015
  • "Market (in)attention and the strategic scheduling and timing of earnings announcements", Journal of Accounting and Economics, Edition 1, Volume 60, Pages 36-55, 2015
  • "Taking the Long Way Home: U.S. Tax Evasion and Offshore Investments in U.S. Equity and Debt Markets", Journal of Finance, Edition 1, Volume 70, Pages 257-287, 2015
  • "Optimistic Reporting and Pessimistic Investing: Do Pro Forma Earnings Disclosures Attract Short Sellers?", <i>Contemporary Accounting Research</i>, Edition 1, Volume 31, Pages 67-102, 2014
  • "The reputational costs of tax avoidance", Contemporary Accounting Research, Edition 4, Volume 31, Pages 1103-1133, 2014
  • "The effects of dividend taxation on short selling and market quality", The Accounting Review, Edition 5, Volume 88, Pages 1833-1856, 2013
  • "Exploring the Role that Delaware Plays as a Domestic Tax Haven", Journal of Financial Economics, Edition 3, Volume 108, Pages 751-772, 2013
  • "Can short restrictions actually increase informed short selling?", Financial Management, Edition 1, Volume 42, Pages 155-181, 2013
  • "Investor Information Demand: Evidence from Google Searches around Earnings Announcements", Journal of Accounting Research, Edition 4, Volume 50, 2012
  • "The information content of annual earnings announcements and mandatory adoption of IFRS", Journal of Accounting and Economics, Edition 1-2, Volume 53, Pages 34–54, 2012

Experience

Other

  • Associate Professor of Accounting (with tenure), University of Washington, 2014–2016
  • Assistant Professor of Accounting, University of Washington, 2010–2014

Awards

  • Karl G. Maeser Research Award, BYU, 2022
  • BYU School of Accountancy Excellence Award, BYU SOA, 2021
  • FARS Outstanding Discussion Award, FARS, 2021
  • FARS Distinguished Service Award, FARS, 2020
  • John and Nancy Hardy Chaired Professorship, 2019
  • Best Paper, Financial Accounting and Reporting Section,, American Accounting Association, 2019
  • Scholarly Excellence Award, Marriott School of Business, 2019
  • EY Distinguished Fellowship, 2018
  • Best paper - Accounting Horizons 2018, 2018
  • Outstanding discussant - FARS Midyear 2018, 2018
  • Outstanding discussant - JATA Conference 2018, 2018
  • Robert Smith Fellowship, 2016
  • Andrew V. Smith Award for Excellence in Research, University of Washington, 2015
  • National Service Award, AAA, Financial Accounting and Reporting Section, 2015
  • Ron Crockett Award for Innovation in Education, University of Washington, 2014
  • Fowler Award for Special Achievement in Accounting, University of Washington, 2013
  • Outstanding PhD Mentor in Accounting, University of Washington, 2013
  • Third Prize, Annual Academic Competition, Chicago Quantitative Alliance, 2012
  • Delozier Award for Outstanding Doctoral Student, University of North Carolina, 2010

Languages

  • Spanish

Professional Citizenship

  • The Accounting Review,, Editorial Review Board Member, July 2023–0
  • Journal of Accounting and Economics, Editorial Review Board Member, January 2023–0
  • UNC Tax Center, Other, June 2019–0
  • Contemporary Accounting Research, Editor, Associate Editor, 2019–0
  • Contemporary Accounting Research, Editorial Review Board Member, 2017–0