Professor of Accounting
Roger and Barbara Schmenner Faculty Fellow

“As I delve into the study of healthcare accounting, I am intrigued to learn why a box of gauze can cost a hospital an exorbitant price compared to the local drugstore,” says J. Reed Smith. “I want to understand real healthcare costs from a patient’s perspective.”

A Fulbright Scholar, Smith is one of just a handful of professors in the country tackling the theoretical issues of accounting through modeling. His research focuses primarily on studying the economics of fraud and auditing and investigating connections between the two. Because data on fraud is proprietary and often very difficult to find, Smith uses modeling—the use of assumptions and sets of mathematical equations—to better understand, and sometimes predict, how and why fraud happens.

“Success is writing up a model that’s both institutionally rich and intellectually honest,” Smith explains. “It’s about being able to capture and formalize interesting observations that we haven’t seen before.”