Financial Wellness Center Hub Opens in McKeldin Library
University of Maryland’s Financial Wellness Hub opened in McKeldin Library, offering peer mentoring, workshops and classes on budgeting, investing and loans, aiming to improve financial literacy for students, faculty and staff across campus.
Teaching AI Literacy Through Fun and Games
Smith faculty led an AI literacy workshop where students used interactive tools and peer presentations to explore practical applications, emphasizing AI as a collaborative assistant while highlighting its limits and role in improving academic, professional and entrepreneurial outcomes.
Musk-OpenAI Trial Puts Nonprofit Law in Spotlight
As the Musk-OpenAI trial unfolds, Smith’s Samuel Handwerger says the case centers on nonprofit law, examining whether OpenAI’s shift to a for-profit model with Microsoft may have violated rules barring private benefit and conflicted with its charitable mission.
Scholarship Tax Rules Leave Students Confused, Smith Expert Says
A case at a volunteer tax site highlights a gap in U.S. tax reporting that leads students to underreport taxable scholarship income, according to Samuel Handwerger, as forms and software often fail to prompt required calculations and the IRS lacks matching data.
Sean Cao Wins Two Best Paper Awards for AI Research
Smith associate professor Sean Cao, co-founder and director of the Smith AI Initiative for Capital Market Research, received two best paper awards for research showing how humans and artificial intelligence work together to improve stock analysis and corporate disclosure in capital markets.
Stephen Loeb and UMD Newly Recognized as Scholarly Leaders in Accounting Ethics
Stephen Loeb, retired University of Maryland Smith School professor and former department chair, was named a leading accounting ethics scholar by the Journal of Accounting Literature, which cites his foundational research and ranks UMD first among institutions in the field.
‘Evolving Cyber Fraud Threats’ Highlight Latest Forum on Financial Information Systems and Cybersecurity
The Financial Information Systems and Cybersecurity Forum examined emerging cyber fraud threats, research and policy issues, while honoring the 25th anniversary of the Gordon-Loeb Model. Faculty and experts highlighted evolving scams, data-driven insights and the model’s lasting influence on cybersecurity investment decisions.
Unlocking Forecast Quality: The Power of Material Sustainability Disclosures
In 2013, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) began releasing guidelines to identify material (or financially relevant) sustainability metrics. This study investigates the effects of material and immaterial sustainability activities on analyst forecast error and dispersion. We further examine how these effects are influenced by the issuance of stand-alone sustainability reports and the release of SASB’s material sustainability standards.
Effects of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate Change Policy on Audit Fees
This study explores the correlation between greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from U.S. companies and their audit fees, driven by the escalating frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Building on prior research that connects climate risk, regulation, and audit fees, our investigation uses a sample of companies with Scope 1 GHG emissions sourced from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP). Our results show a positive association between GHG emissions and audit fees.