Erik Olson

Erik Olson

Assistant Professor of Accounting

Research Interests/Areas of Expertise

Real Effects of Accounting, Corporate Finance, Agency Theory, Financial Reporting, Institutional Investors, Taxation

Subject Areas

Accounting

Biography

Biography

Professor Olson is an Assistant Professor of Accounting at Vanderbilt. His research interests include capital markets, taxation, corporate governance, and institutional investors.

His job market paper examines whether investor types influence firm payout policy decisions (share repurchases and dividends). In particular, he focuses on the treatment of trapped foreign cash "unlocked" by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) as a setting. His dissertation was completed under the supervision of Jake Thomas (chair), Frank Zhang, Shyam Sunder, Thomas Steffen, and Zeqiong Huang.

Awards & Accomplishments

"Thanks Teach" Vanderbilt-OGSM Award Winner for Teaching Excellence (2020-2021) Yale University Graduate School Fellowship (2015-2020)
American Accounting Association FARS Excellence in Reviewing Award (2019)

Expertise

Professor Olson worked as a tax associate at KPMG from 2014-2015 in corporate tax, partnership tax, international tax, and transfer pricing.

Teaching

Professor Olson teaches Financial Accounting and Reporting with a particular emphasis on valuation.

On A Personal Note...

Professor Olson is a 2nd Degree Black belt, and placed 3rd at the International Chinese Martial Arts Championships (ICMAC) Kickboxing world championships in 2006.

Research Interests

The impact of disclosure on firm capital allocation decisions (real effects).

Education

PhD, Management (focus in Accounting), Yale University, 2020

MPhil, Yale University, 2019

M.A., Yale University, 2019

MAcc, University of Florida, 2013

B.S., Accounting, University of Florida, 2012