CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign student has received a $25,000 doctoral fellowship from the Deloitte Foundation.
Dave Piercey, a graduate student in the College of Business, was one of 10 doctoral students from across the country selected to receive the award.
Piercey, 5543 Walker Woods Lane, Salt Lake City, is studying behavioral accounting and behavioral finance at Illinois. As part of his research, Piercey looks at the manipulation of earnings numbers reported by companies, the ability of analysts, investors, and auditors to use that information, and public perceptions of accounting failures.
Piercey develops expectations about these issues using theory from cognitive psychology, economics and finance, and then tests the assertions using human subjects.
The Deloitte Foundation Doctoral Fellowship will provide Piercey with $5,000 during his final year of course work and $20,000 during the following year when he completes his dissertation. After finishing his doctoral studies, Piercey plans to teach and do research at the university level, working in conjunction with colleagues from public accounting and other business industries.
Piercey earned bachelor's and master's degrees, both in accounting, from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
The Doctoral Fellowship Program, which attracts applicants from nearly 100 schools across the nation, is funded through the Deloitte Foundation, a not-for-profit organization associated with Deloitte & Touche LLP, one of the nation's leading professional service firms.