Type To Search
Type To Search

People

Home People
Pingyang GAO
Prof. Pingyang GAO
Accounting and Law
Associate Dean (Taught Postgraduate)
Zhang Yonghong Professor in Accounting
Professor

3910 2184

KK 1232

Academic & Professional Qualification
  • Ph.D., Yale University, 2008
  • M.A., Peking University, China, 2004
  • B.A., Renmin University of China, China, 2002
Biography

Professor Gao joined HKU Business School in 2020. Until then he had been on the faculty of Chicago Booth since 2008. He also spent the fall of 2019 at Yale as a visiting professor.

His research has focused on important public policy and securities regulation issues with respect to capital markets and corporate governance. He has conducted extensive research on accounting issues in the banking industries as exposed by the financial crisis of 2007-2009, the worldwide adoption of IFRS, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 in the United States. He has also worked on various aspects of disclosure and securities regulations, in particular in the intersection of financial reporting with capital markets and corporate governance. His research has been published in all top accounting journals. He is a recipient of American Accounting Association Competitive Manuscript Award and several Best Paper awards of conferences. He is on the editorial board of Journal of Accounting Research and regularly reviews papers for major journals in accounting, finance and economics.

Gao received a bachelor’s degree from Renmin University of China in 2002, a master’s degree from Peking University in 2004, and a PhD degree from Yale University in 2008. He has received several honors, including the IBM faculty fellowship, PCL Faculty Scholar, and Centel Foundation/Robert P. Reuss Faculty Scholar. He is a member of the Edward Alexander Bouchet Graduate Honor Society at Yale University, a network of scholars who exemplify service and advocacy for students who have been traditionally underrepresented in the academia. He participates regularly in the activities of professional organizations, including AAA, AFA, AEA, and CAPANA. He is a member of Growth and Institutions organized by Tsinghua University. He is also an inactive CPA in China.

Research Interest
  • Accounting Standards Setting
  • Financial Reporting to Capital Markets
  • Corporate Governance
  • Bank Accounting
  • Financial Crisis
Selected Publications
  • Mark-to-Market, Loan Retention, and Loan Origination, with Alexander Bleck, The Accounting Review, 98(1), 83–107, 2023;
  • The Economic Consequences of Discrete Recognition and Continuous Measurement, with Xu Jiang, Journal of Accounting and Economics, 69(1), 101250, 2020;
  • Idiosyncratic Information, Moral Hazard, and the Cost of Capital, Contemporary Accounting Research, 36(4), 2178-2206, 2019;
  • Auditing Standards, Professional Judgement, and Audit Quality, with Gaoqing Zhang, The Accounting Review, 94(6), 201-225, 2019;
  • Firm Value and Market Liquidity around the Adoption of Common Accounting Standards, with Xu Jiang and Gaoqing Zhang, Journal of Accounting and Economics, 68(1), 101220, 2019;
  • Accounting Manipulations, Peer Pressure, and Internal Control,with Gaoqing Zhang, The Accounting Review, 94(1), 127-151, 2019;
  • Reporting Choices in the Shadow of Bank Runs, with Xu Jiang, Journal of Accounting and Economics, 65(1), 85-108, 2018;
  • A Two-Step Representation of Accounting Measurement, Accounting Horizons, 27(4), 861-866, 2013;
  • Informational Feedback, Adverse Selection, and Optimal Disclosure Policy, with Pierre J. Liang, Journal of Accounting Research, 51(5), 1133-1158, 2013;
  • A Measurement Approach to Conservatism and Earnings Management, Journal of Accounting and Economics, 55(2-3), 251-268, 2013;
  • Disclosure Quality, Cost of Capital, and Investor Welfare, The Accounting Review, 85(1), 1-29, 2010 (lead article);
    (Winner of 2008 Competitive Manuscript Award by American Accounting Association)
  • Keynesian Beauty Contest, Accounting Disclosure, and Market Efficiency, Journal of Accounting Research, 46(4), 785-807, 2008;
    (Winner of 2007 Best Paper Award by American Accounting Association Northeast Region Meeting)
Awards and Honours
  • 2018 CAPANA Conference Best Paper Award for “Accounting Information, Renegotiation, and Debt Contracts”
  • IBM Faculty Scholar 2015-2017
  • PCL Faculty Scholar, 2014-2015
  • Centel Foundation/Robert P. Reuss Faculty Scholar, 2013-2014
  • Edward A. Borchet Graduate Honor Society, 2009
  • American Accounting Association (AAA) Competitive Manuscript Award for “Disclosure Quality, Cost of Capital, and Investors’ Welfare,” 2008
  • Deloitte & Touche Foundation Doctoral Fellowship, 2007
  • AAA/Deloitte/J. Michael Cook Doctoral Consortium Fellow, Tahoe City, 2007
  • AAA Northeast Region Meeting Best Paper Award for “Keynesian Beauty Contest, Accounting Disclosure, and Market Efficiency,” 2007
  • General Electric — Peking University Scholarship, GE Foundation, 2003
  • Beijing Outstanding Student, Beijing Municipal Government, 2001
  • PricewaterhouseCoopers/Long Tao Scholarship, PWC Foundation, 2000 & 2001
  • Outstanding Volunteer in Community Services, Haidian District Government, Beijing, 2000
  • Uni-President Group Scholarship, Uni-President Foundation, 1999
  • Best Debater of Renmin University of China, 1998
Recent Publications
More
7Aug
Prof. Pingyang GAO
Evergrande Liquidators Start Legal Action Against PwC

China Evergrande Group’s liquidators have launched court proceedings against PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, another legal step to recover at least a fraction of creditors’ investments from the property giant. “A collapse as large as China Evergrande severely undermines investors’ confidence in the system, and the only way to restore it is to have a transparent autopsy,” said Pingyang Gao, an accounting and law professor at the HKU Business School. He added that the liquidators’ legal actions and court proceedings will help with that process.

7 Aug 2024
Faculty
31Jan
Prof. Pingyang GAO
Mark-to-Market, Loan Retention, and Loan Origination

We study the effects of mark-to-market accounting (MTM) for banks following the originate-to-distribute lending model. Banks have expertise in originating loans, but it is costly for them to retain the loans on their books. We study how the accounting measurement of the retained loans affects the banks’ origination and retention decisions. We show that, relative to historic cost accounting (HC), MTM has three consequences. First, it improves the accuracy of loan measurement ex post. Second, it forces banks to retain more risk exposure on their own books. Finally, it can reduce ex ante origination efforts and lower the average quality of loans in the economy.

31 Jan 2023
The Accounting Review