At the annual Faculty Awards celebration, Professor of Accounting Mikhail Pevzner received the Merrick School of Business's Outstanding Article award for his 2020 co-authored article titled “Labor adjustment costs and asymmetric cost behavior: An extension,” in the academic journal Management Accounting Research. 

The focus of the article was examining asymmetric cost behavior which has had a heightened interest in managerial accounting literature as of late. “The literature has hypothesized that adjustment costs, particularly labor adjustment costs, play a significant and central role in driving empirically observed cost behavior patterns.”  

“This research shows how important human capital considerations are in adjusting firms’ costs even in hard times,” said Pevzner. “Human capital is hard to replace, and this is why firms are reluctant to cut costs arising from more highly skilled labor.”  

From the perspective of Dean Murray Dalziel, who had to consider several Merrick School of Business faculty for the Outstanding Paper award, he selected Pevzner’s paper because Pevzner and his research colleagues demonstrated what the Merrick School of Business is really looking for in terms of knowledge creation.  

"The research was rigorously carried out and it is especially relevant at this time," said Dalziel. "In a post-pandemic world, labor issues will continue to be an important topic as companies react to the new business landscape, and this research reveals there is much to be considered. We know all labor issues are not the same, but firms with needs for highly-skilled labor need to particularly scrutinize the relationship between costs and revenues."

Prof. Pevzner teaches auditing and financial accounting and has strong research interests in auditing and capital markets, and he currently holds the school's EY Chair in Accounting.

Learn more about Prof. Pevzner.

In addition to the Outstanding Article Award, the School of Business announced professorships, chairs and annual teaching awards for the academic year 2020-2021 at the school’s May virtual awards ceremony:

Professorships / Chairs

• Regina Bento, professor of management, continues to hold the Baltimore Gas and Electric Chair
• Mikhail Pevzner, associate professor of accounting, continues to hold the E&Y Chair in Accounting
• Amir Pezeshkan, associate professor of management and international relations, continues to hold the CSX Leadership Chair
• Praneet Randhawa, associate professor of marketing, was awarded the J. William Middendorf Distinguished Professor
• Jaya Singhal, professor of decision science, continues to hold the Frank Baker Chair for Research Excellence
• Kalyan Singhal, professor of supply chain management, continues to hold the Doris and Robert McCurdy Chair
• Lourdes White, professor of accounting, awarded the Lockheed Martin Chair
• Nafeesa Yunus, associate professor of finance and real estate, continues to hold the Harry Y. Wright Chair in Finance
• Ting Zhang, associate professor of economics, awarded the Harry Y. Wright Chair in Economics

Annual Teaching and Service Awards

• William Carter, associate professor of management, awarded the Dean Clifford C. James Chair for Distinguished Teaching.
• Roberto Cavazos, lecturer in decision science, received the Dean’s Award for Faculty.
• M. Kate Demarest, lecturer in accounting, shares the G. Maxwell Armor Professorship.
• Art Flach, adjunct accounting faculty, received the Adjunct Faculty Award.
• Dan Gerlowski, professor of economics, received the T. Rowe Price Excellence in Teaching.
• Seema Iyer, associate research professor and program director of the Real Estate and Economic Development program, received the Dean Daniel Costello Service Award.
• David Lingelbach, associate professor of entrepreneurship, received the Turner Medallion.
• Theodore Peters, lecturer in management, received the Yale Gordon Chair for Distinguished Teaching.
• Kathea Smith, assistant dean, received the Dean’s Award for Staff.
• Sanwar Sunny, assistant professor of entrepreneurship, received the Dean’s Rising Star Research Award.
• Frank van Vliet, senior lecturer in marketing and entrepreneurship, shares the G. Maxwell Armor Professorship.
• Jan Williams, associate professor of accounting, received the Dean Daniel Costello Service Award.