About the Authors 647specializing in business strategy with offices in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles,
New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., London, Paris, Munich, Rome,
Madrid, and Tokyo (since acquired by Cap Gemini /Ernst & Young). He has
consulted to major corporations and other organizations such as the U.S.
Postal Service and the SEC. He was the Arthur Young Distinguished Professor
of Accounting at Ohio State University, Fuller E. Callaway Professor of
Accounting at Georgia Institute of Technology, and Chairman of the Depart-
ment of Accounting and Law at Babson College. He has authored or coau-
thored 10 books, several chapters in authoritative accounting handbooks, and
many articles in professional journals.
Richard P. Mandel is an associate professor of law at Babson College, where
he teaches a variety of courses in business law and taxation on the undergradu-
ate and graduate school levels and has served as chairman of the Finance Divi-
sion. He is also a partner in the law firm of Bowditch and Dewey, of Worcester
and Framingham, Massachusetts, where he specializes in the representation of
growing businesses and their executives. Mr. Mandel has written a number of
articles regarding the legal issues encountered by small businesses. He holds an
AB in Government and Meteorology from Cornell University and a JD from
Harvard Law School.
Charles W. Mulford is Invesco Chair and professor of accounting in the
DuPree College of Management at Georgia Tech. Since joining the faculty in
1983, he has been recognized nine times as the Core Professor of the Year and
once as the Professor of the Year by the Graduate Students in Management. In
1999 the Graduate Students in Management voted to rename the Core Profes-
sor of the Year Award the “Charles W. Mulford Core Professor of the Year
Award.” An additional teaching award received in 2000 was the university-
wide W. Roane Beard Class of 1940 Outstanding Teacher Award.
Dr. Mulford’s scholarly pursuits include the publication of numerous pa-
pers in scholarly as well as professional accounting and finance journals. His
research interests center on the effects of accounting standards on investment
and credit decision making, earnings forecasts, the relationship between
accounting-based and market-based measures of risk and international ac-
counting and reporting practices. More recently, his research interests have
turned to the use of published financial reports in the prediction of financial
distress. He has coauthored a book on the subject, Financial Warnings,pub-
lished in 1996. A second book on financial analysis,Guide to Financial Re-
por ting and Analysis, was published in July 2000. A third book on how
accounting is used to mislead investors, The Financial Numbers Game: Identi-
fying Creative Accounting Practices,is scheduled for publication in 2001. All
three books were or will be published by John Wiley & Sons, New York.
In addition to his work at Georgia Tech, Professor Mulford regularly con-
sults with major domestic and international commercial banks on issues related
to credit decision making.