On June 9, 2017, the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business hosted the 2017 Journal of Accounting and Public Policy (JAPP) Conference in College Park, Md. The theme of the sixth annual conference was, “The Interactions between Regulatory Institutions and Accounting: A Public Policy Perspective.” The editors of JAPP are Lawrence A. Gordon and Martin P. Loeb, both professors of accounting and information assurance at the Smith School.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – The WannaCry ransomware that has affected more than 230,000 computers in 150 countries now has largely halted its crawl across the globe, but experts say the attack's real impact might be yet to come. They predict the assault could herald a turning point in cyber intrusions and in the way institutions handle cybersecurity.

The recent Department of Homeland Security designation of state election assets as U.S. critical infrastructure – if it stands -- is a key to mitigating cyber threats to American democracy, said a researcher during the Forum on Financial Information Systems and Cybersecurity: A Public Policy Perspective on Jan. 11, 2017 at the University of Maryland.

People are sharing their personal information online faster than policymakers can keep pace, a privacy expert said Jan. 13, 2016, at the 12th annual Forum on Financial Information Systems and Cybersecurity. “Current policies are like bringing a knife to a gunfight,” said Alessandro Acquisti, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. “The way we are doing things now is not the only way it can be done, and certainly not the best way it can be done.”

Researchers and Senior Executives to Explore Policy-Based Solutions Cyber attacks on companies worldwide increased by 48 percent from 2013 to 2014 as roughly 42.8 million data security breaches cost firms hundreds to potentially millions of dollars (according to this recent study). With cybercrime against organizations flourishing, researchers and senior executives from business and government agencies will engage in a daylong Forum on Financial Information Systems and Cybersecurity: A Public Policy Perspective on Jan.

As tax season comes to a close, the new Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) chapter at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business celebrated their first season of operation, and almost 100 returns filed successfully. The VITA program was established by site coordinator Samuel Handwerger and professor Martin Loeb, with help from Wei Wu ’13 and 12 core student volunteers.

Lawrence Gordon, professor of managerial accounting and information assurance at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, will speak at the 2015 International National Cyber Security Centre One Conference, April 13-14, in the Netherlands. 

Due to inclement weather, the Cybersecurity Forum will start at 10 a.m. Researchers and Senior Executives to Explore Policy-Based Solutions Cyberattacks on companies worldwide increased by 48 percent from 2013 to 2014 as roughly 42.8 million data security breaches cost firms hundreds to potentially millions of dollars (according to this recent study). 

Earlier this week, French economist Jean Tirole won the Nobel Prize in economics. The news reverberated throughout the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, especially when Professor Martin Loeb added Tirole to his list of Nobel Laureates who have previously cited his work. Loeb, who teaches accounting and information assurance and is a Deloitte & Touche Faculty Fellow, has a total of 10 Nobel Laureates on that list, including Kenneth Arrow, Eric Maskin and now Tirole.

Don’t blame bailouts for excessive risk taking, one researcher said May 29, 2014, during a daylong accounting conference at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. Research presented at the third annual Journal of Accounting and Public Policy Conference in College Park, Md., shows how the expectation of a safety net — which comes with strings attached — actually reins in shareholders and managers with limited liability.