According to a news release on the George Mason School of Business website, Kelly Wentland received the 2015 Doctoral Dissertation Award for Innovation in Accounting Education from the American Accounting Association and Grant Thornton. Wentland is one of the school’s newest accounting professors. Wentland is currently pursuing her PhD at the School of Business, which qualified her for this award. Her research explored industrial diversification in terms of firm taxation.
“People have examined diversified firms before, but primarily considering tax benefits due to the firm’s diversification geographically,” Wentland said in the news release. “This is the first time we are looking at diversification on an alternate dimension.”
Wentland research shows that organizations that operate in multiple industries with smoother streams of income can obtain greater tax savings than single industry firms. Her research was considered innovative because it goes against the grain in the accounting world: many activist investors say that there is no real tax benefit to industrial diversification and companies should be focusing on one area rather than straying from their core competencies.
Wentland explained further:
“One such example of a firm doing this well would be 3M. Its products and services span several industries, including transportation, construction, medical, appliance, electronics, food and beverage, automotive, print and more.”
According to the American Accounting Association, the Doctoral Dissertation Awards for Innovation in Accounting Education were created to encourage innovation in accounting research starting at the doctoral level. More information about this award is available here.