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The Inaugural Virginia Tech Accounting Research Conference was sponsored by the Department of Accounting and Information Systems to enhance the department’s research reputation. The conference was designed to attract top-notch early career stage researchers all over the world to come to Blacksburg to form relationships with our existing, research-active faculty members and PhD students through research dialogues and social interactions. It took place at the Skelton Conference Center on June 22-23, 2018. In all we had 40 attendees who contributed to the exchange of knowledge during the conference. The conference concluded with a beautiful hike to Cascade Falls. Invited presenters were Jonas Heese from Harvard University; Andy Imdieke from the University of Notre Dame; Ben Commerford from the University of Kentucky; Jim Naughton from Northwestern University; Dan Lynch from the University of Wisconsin; and Lauren Reid from Wake Forest University. Virginia Tech faculty discussed papers after the speakers’ presentations and led active question and answer sessions. The research presented was diverse, reflecting the broad range of interesting questions accountants investigate today and included analysis of: whether reduced travel time leads to better internal monitoring; the effectiveness of PCAOB regulatory actions; whether auditor scrutiny deters managerial opportunism; the effect of credit rating changes on voluntary disclosure; externalities stemming from the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act of 2017; and whether CFO leisure time influences financial reporting quality. The conference was such a success that plans for the second research conference are already under way! For more information, visit us online at: https://acis.pamplin.vt.edu/Research/ResearchConf.html. Inaugural Accounting Research Conference a Success R e s e a r c h C o n f e r e n c e

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