Wei Zhu

Associate Professor of Accountancy and KPMG Faculty Fellow

Contact

4072 Business Instructional Facility

515 Gregory Dr

Champaign, IL 61820

Listings

Educational Background

Ph.D., Management, Accounting, Yale University, 2013
M.A., Accounting, Peking University, 2008
B.A., Accounting, Peking University, 2006

Positions Held

Associate Professor of Accountancy, Accountancy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2023 to present
Assistant Professor of Accountancy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2014-2023
Lecturer of Accountancy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2013
Teaching Assistant, MBA Program, Yale University, 2009-2012

Recent Publications

Li, L., Zhu, W., & Wang, S. (2022). Operating Cash Flows and Earnings Target Revision: Evidence from Annual Cash Bonus Plans for CEOs. Journal of Management Accounting Research, 34 (2).
Chen, C., Kim, M., Li, L., & Zhu, W. (2022). Accounting Performance Goals in CEO Compensation Contracts and Corporate Risk Taking. Management Science, 68 (8), 6039-6058. link >
Thomas, J., Yao, W., Zhang, F., & Zhu, W. (2022). Meet, Beat, and Pollute. Review of Accounting Studies, 27 1038-1078. link >
Ye, M., Zhu, W., & Zheng, M. (2022). The Effect of Tick Size on Managerial Learning from Stock Prices. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 75 101515.
Zhu, W., Thomas, J., & Zhang, F. (2022). Measuring the Information Content of Disclosures: The Role of Return Noise. The Accounting Review, 97 (6), 417–443.

Other Publications

Articles

Thomas, J., Zhang, F., & Zhu, W. (2021). Dark Trading and Post Earnings Announcement Drift. Management Science, 67 (12), 7785-7811. link >
Czerney, K., Schmidt, J., Thompson, A., & Zhu, W. (2020). Do Type II Subsequent Events Impair Financial Reporting Quality? The Accounting Review, 95 (6), 97-123.
Zhu, W. (2016). Accruals and Price Crashes. Review of Accounting Studies, 21 (2), 349-399.

Presentations

Zhu, W. (2021). Meet, beat, and pollute. Review of Accounting Studies Conference.
Zhu, W., & , . (2019). Where do hedge fund activists trade? Future Financial Information Conference, Stockholm Business School.
Zhu, W. (2018). Target difficulty and risk taking. Midwest Accounting Research Conference, Indiana University.
Zhu, W. (2018). Off-exchange trading and post-earnings-announcement-drift. University of Iowa.
Zhu, W. (2017). Off-exchange trading and post-earnings-announcement-drift. 2017 AAA Annual Meeting.
Zhu, W. (2016). Do disclosed subsequent events pose risk to financial reporting quality? Nanyang Technology University.
Zhu, W. (2016). Off-exchange trading and post-earnings-announcement-drift. National University of Singapore.
Zhu, W. (2016). Off-exchange trading and post-earnings-announcement-drift. Singapore Management University.
Zhu, W. (2015). Discussion of "Cash Flow Opacity and Stock Price Crash Risk". American Accounting Association Financial Accounting and Reporting Section Midyear Meeting.
Zhu, W. (2014). Discussion of "Dividend Payments and Stock Price Crash Risk". American Accounting Association Annual Meeting.
Zhu, W. (2014). Revenue Manipulations and Misspecification in Real Activities Management Models. University of Illinois/PWC Young Scholars Research Symposium I.
Zhu, W. (2013). Accommodating Heterogeneous Cash Mapping Schedules in Dechow and Dichev Model. Yale School of Management Fall Accounting Research Conference.
Zhu, W. (2013). Predicting Price Crashes: The Role of Accruals. American Accounting Association Annual Meeting.
Zhu, W. (2013). Predicting Price Crashes: The Role of Accruals. Baruch College.
Zhu, W. (2013). Predicting Price Crashes: The Role of Accruals. Boston University.
Zhu, W. (2013). Predicting Price Crashes: The Role of Accruals. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Zhu, W. (2013). Predicting Price Crashes: The Role of Accruals. Washington University at St. Louis.
Zhu, W. (2012). Asset Turnover Growth and Accruals: One Anomaly or Two? American Accounting Association Northeast Regional Meeting.
Zhu, W. (2012). Crashes and Jumps in Price and Earnings-the Role of Accruals. Yale University.
Zhu, W. (2011). Asset Turnover Growth and Accruals: One Anomaly or Two? Yale University.
Zhu, W. (2011). The Level of Share Price and Subsequent Stock Returns. Yale University.
Zhu, W. (2010). A Reexamination of the Negative Aggregate Returns-Earnings Link. Yale University.

Working Papers

Brumley, B., Czerney, K., Thompson, A., & Zhu, W. Subsequent-event reporting quality in state and local governments. link >
Li, L., & Zhu, W. Accrual management behavior and the performance of discretionary accrual proxies. link >
Li, L., & Zhu, W. Special Items, target revision, and target achievability. link >
Li, L., Yoon, H., & Zhu, W. Stock-performance targets in executive compensation. link >
Zhu, W., & Ye, M. Strategic informed trading and dark pools. link >

Honors and Awards

KPMG Faculty Fellowship, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2023 to present
Deloitte Scholar, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2023-2024
Raymond A. Hoffman Faculty Excellence Award, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2022
List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2016-2022
Nominee, Gies Business Alumni Association Excellence-in-Teaching Award for Graduate Teaching, University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, 2021

Grants

Gies Research Funding, Gies College of Business, 2021-2024
Subsequent Event Reporting in State and Local Government, Governmental Accounting Standards Boards (GASB), 2019-2020

Service

Ad Hoc Reviewer, The Accounting Review, 2018 to present
Ad Hoc Reviewer, Review of Accounting Studies, 2018 to present
Editorial Board Member, Contemporary Accounting Research, 2022-2025

Teaching Interests

I enjoy teaching financial reporting and data analytics.

Research Interests

I am broadly interested in exploring institutional aspects of financial reporting and how prices in capital markets reflect information.

Current Courses

Data Analytics Apps in ACCY (ACCY 575) Develops knowledge regarding the role, methods, and implications of business and data analytics in accounting. Building on prior coursework on the fundamentals of statistical analysis and business/data analytics, this course provides the opportunity to apply related theoretical and practical principles to a variety of accounting scenarios, including audit, tax, fraud identification and detection, financial reporting, and managerial accounting.
Special Research Problems (ACCY 593) Individual investigations or research projects selected by the students, subject to approval by the graduate adviser and the executive officer of the Department.