Biography

Jan has been a professor at Emory University since 1998, specializing in financial reporting and business performance analysis. He led the accounting faculty as Area Coordinator during 2020–2022. He was a visiting professor at Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland during 2013–2109.

His research delves into cognitive neuroscience and brain imaging to understand how investors process financial information. Earlier, he examined the economic causes and consequences of managers' financial reporting choices. His work appears in journals like The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting and Economics, and Contemporary Accounting Research, and has garnered attention from mainstream media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Financial Times. He’s served on several committees of the American Accounting Association, on the editorial boards of The Accounting Review and The International Journal of Accounting Research, and as a referee for journals like Journal of Accounting Research and Review of Accounting Studies.

He's given invited lectures at business schools around the world, including Wharton, Cornell, Duke, Michigan, Northwestern, NYU, London Business School, London School of Economics, INSEAD, and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. His paper on earnings management constraints won a 2005 American Accounting Association award and, according to Google Scholar, has been cited over 1,200 times.

Jan has taught courses for undergraduates, MBAs, and executives on financial reporting, business analysis, mergers and acquisitions, and strategic cost management. He also teaches design thinking. He’s coordinated Emory’s PhD program in accounting and led MBA study trips to Brazil, Cambodia, India, Myanmar, South Africa, Thailand, and Vietnam. He's received Emory's MBA Teaching Excellence Award three times. Jan’s served on and chaired several committees at Emory overseeing degree programs, academic affairs, and student experience.

He holds a PhD in accounting from the University of Alabama, a master's in taxation from Villanova University’s School of Law, and an undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. He also studied design thinking at Stanford's Hasso Plattner Institute of Design and MIT.

Before academia, he was a senior tax consultant at PwC. He grew up in South America and Europe. He lives in midtown Atlanta with his family.

Education

  • PhD in Accounting
    University of Alabama
  • MTax in International Taxation
    Villanova University School of Law
  • BSEcon in Accounting, Finance, Marketing
    The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania