Stephen Penman Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award

The Financial Accounting and Reporting Section of the American Accounting Association has recognized Stephen Penman, Distinguished Professor at Bocconi's Department of Accounting, with a Lifetime Achievement Award. This award, as the name implies, is not given periodically but only as an outstanding candidate emerges with "trailblazing research" that has "opened new areas of research and has reshaped the thinking of the academic community in a fundamental way."

Professor Penman's contributions are in fundamental analysis and accounting-based valuation. The research has redefined financial statement analysis and value investing, with an impact not only in academia but also on active investing practice. His books, Financial Statement Analysis and Security Valuation (McGraw-Hill) and Accounting for Value (Columbia University Press) have distilled this research for the classroom and for practice. The work has also had an impact on accounting policy, defining effective accounting for investors. His on-going research deals with the analysis of investment risk leading to practical, accounting-based risk models.



Professor Penman, on receiving the award, expressed delight that his colleagues in academia have found his work to be helpful in advancing the field. "Our mission," he says, "is not only to further academic research but to have a lasting effect on practice. That is the gratification from our endeavors and the explicit recognition by this award is particularly fulfilling."