CONTACT INFORMATION
Office:	306 Kalkin  FIND OFFICE
Phone:	656-8322
E-Mail:	stephen.dempsey@uvm.edu
Office Hours:	By Appointment

• BSAD 061 - Managerial Accounting
  Section B, 003 Kalkin 8:30-9:45 TR - ON-LINE SYLLABUS
  Section Z2, 003 Kalkin 8:30-9:45 TR - ON-LINE SYLLABUS
   
• BSAD 180 - Managerial Finance
  Section B, 001 Kalkin 10:00-11:15 TR - ON-LINE SYLLABUS
  Section Z2, 001 Kalkin 10:00-11:15 TR - ON-LINE SYLLABUS

Publication History

Journal Article, Academic Journal

• Dempsey, S. J. - "On the Benefits of a Mathematical Solutions Approach to Time Value of Money Instruction: Arguments and Evidence" (Refereed) - Journal of Accounting Education - 2003 - v. 21, no. 3, pp. 239-260 [View publication] [Show/Hide Abstract]
  Abstract: This paper proposes several educational benefits to be derived by abandoning the traditional textbook focus on time value of money (TVM) tables and requiring student-generated mathematical solutions to TVM problems. These include: (1) greater reinforcement and appreciation for the theoretical concepts underlying TVM analysis; (2) improved professional preparation for dealing with real-life TVM applications; and (3) a better backdrop from which to introduce more sophisticated TVM topics calling for a requisite mathematical understanding (e.g., effective interest rates and exponential growth between discrete interest periods). Comparative computational efficiency and learning effectiveness are empirically evaluated in an experiment on two groups of students: those who reinforced their learning using a mathematical approach and those who reinforced their learning using tables. Students that employed the mathematical approach scored significantly higher on a common achievement test and also completed the tests in significantly less time. A post-experimental attitudinal questionnaire revealed statistically significantly stronger student preferences for the mathematical approach.
  
• Dempsey, S. J.; Gatti, J. F.; Grinnell, D.; Cats-Baril, W. L. - "The Use of Strategic Performance Variables as Leading Indicators in Financial Analysts' Forecasts" (Refereed) - The Journal of Financial Statement Analysis - 1997 - v. 2, no. Summer, 4, pp. 61-79 [View publication] [Show/Hide Abstract]
  Abstract: The emerging view among managers and academicians argues for an expanded reporting system to provide more comprehensive information about organizational performance, including internal strategic performance variables. Little systematically-gathered evidence is available, however, concerning the views of the analyst community on this matter. This paper reports the results of a survey of 420 senior investment officers, directors of research and financial analysts regarding the frequency of use, predictive value, and ease of acquisition of a variety of financial and non-financial performance measures. The patterns of use that emerge from the study paint a picture in which analysts go well beyond the traditional financial measures and use a broad range of strategic leading indicators to assess long-term organizational success. The results contribute to our understanding of (1) the extent to which analysts currently use or are interested in using various strategic performance variables in addition to traditional financial performance measures, (2) the linkage between the use of performance measures and their predictive value and ease of acquisition, and (3) the information gaps which currently exist between various measures predictive usefulness and external accessibility.
  
• Dempsey, S. J. - "Interim Earnings Management and the Fourth Quarter Good News Effect" (Refereed) - Journal of Business Finance and Accounting - 1994 - v. 21, no. 6, pp. 889-908 [View publication] [Show/Hide Abstract]
  Abstract: This paper presents evidence of a larger return reaction (variance) to fourth quarter announcements that induce contemporaneously positive returns. The results are consistent with: (i) audited annual announcements being marginally more informative for reports that corroborate previously unaudited interim good news claims, and (ii) the level of marginal informativeness being a decreasing function of interim auditor involvement (proxied by firm size). The good news effect is robust over time, and sensitivity analyses fail to support competing explanations for the effect attributable to report timing differences or comparatively noisy fourth quarter bad news reports.
  
• Dempsey, S. J. - "Dividend Policies in Practice: Is there an Industry Effect?" - Quarterly Journal of Business and Economics - 1993 - v. 32, no. Autumn 1993, pp. 3-13 [Show/Hide Abstract]
  Abstract: While financial theory is unequivocal on the irrelevance of dividend policy in perfect capital markets, there is widespread recognition that payout policy in practice is controversial and not well understood. In the presence of taxes and transaction costs, the payment of a dividend by the firm is regarded as something of a puzzle. Nonetheless, most firms pay dividends. Brealey and Myers (1991, p. 918) list dividend policy as one of their "10 unresolved problems in finance." Brigham and Gapenski (1991, p. 549) describe it as "one of the most judgmental decisions that a manager must make," and Van Horne (1989, p. 344) claims that the "lack of firm footing for predicting the long-run effect of a specific dividend policy on valuation makes the dividend decision more difficult in many ways than either the investment or financing decisions."
  
• Dempsey, S. J.; Hunt, H.; Schroeder, N. - "Earnings Management and Corporate Ownership Structure: An Examination of Extraordinary Item Reporting" (Refereed) - Journal of Business Finance and Accounting - 1993 - v. 20, no. 4, pp. 479-500 [View publication] [Show/Hide Abstract]
  Abstract: This study examines the empirical relation between a three-way classification of corporate ownership structure and earnings management through the use of extraordinary item (EI) reporting. The EI reporting decisions examined are those made during 1960-1966, a time period when US reporting standards allowed considerable management discretion with respect to both the classification of EIs and their placement in the financial statements (i.e., income. versus retained earnings statement). Overall, the results provide strong support for income-increasing behavior by non-owner managers. Importantly, the results also suggest that the three-way ownership classification scheme used in this study is superior to the dichotomous owner-controlled/managercontrolled classification typically used in accounting studies
  
• Dempsey, S. J. - "Effects of Agency and Transactions Costs on Dividend Payout Ratios: Further Evidence of the Agency-Transactions Cost Hypothesis" - Journal of Financial Research - 1992 - no. Winter, pp. 317-321
• Dempsey, S. J. - "Predisclosure Information Search Incentives, Analyst Following, and Earnings Announcement Price Response" - The Accounting Review - 1989 - v. LXIV, no. 4, pp. 748-757 [Show/Hide Abstract]
  Abstract: This paper investigates an exogenous proxy for predisclosure information, analyst following, and empirically contrasts its earnings announcement price response performance with the endogenous firm size factor. The theoretical motivation for the comparison rests on the premise that the analyst community formulates its preference ranking of firms to follow on the basis of a multivariate information search cost-benefit framework (i.e., incentive considerations in addition to size). The empirical results, based on 2,466 annual earnings announcements over 1976-1982, are consistent with this hypothesis. Regression analyses corroborate the firm size effect found in prior studies as well as a univariate analyst following effect. In a multiple regression model, however, analyst following continues to be incrementally significant while firm size does not. Further analysis demonstrates that thinly followed large firms have significantly larger price reaction than widely followed small firms. Both are supportive of a "non-size-related" analyst following effect.
  

Magazine/Trade Publication

• Dempsey, S. J. - "Invited editorial on stock market volatility" - Vermont Business Magazine - 1992

Conference Proceeding

• Dempsey, S. J. - "Time Value of Money Tables: Time to Dispense with Them?" - Applied Business Research Conference Proceedings - 2003
• Dempsey, S. J.; Hunt, H.; Schroeder, N. W. - "Earnings Management and Corporate Ownership Structure: An Examination of Extraordinary Item Reporting" - Collected Abstracts of the 1991 American Accounting Assoc. Northeast Region Annual Meeting - 1991 - pp. April, Session 26

Book, Scholarly-New

• Dempsey, S. J. - "Instructor's Resource Manual" - Instructor's Manual to Accompany Intermediate Accounting - 6thEdition - 1998 - no. 6,
• Dempsey, S. J. - "Resource Manual to Accompany Intermediate Accounting" - 1991 - pp. 511 pages , McGraw Hill

Research Report

• Gatti, J. F.; Dempsey, S. J. - "Fixed Income Sectors: A Primer on the High-Yield Bond Market" - Dwight Asset Management Company - 2006

Other

• Dempsey, S. J. - "Profit Model for Post Offices: A Study of Income Measurement, Subunit Reporting and Managerial Incentives" - Report to the Postmaster General of the United States - 1996 - pp. 38 pages
• Dempsey, S. J. - "Interim Earnings Management and the Fourth-Quarter Good News Effect" - Collected Abstracts of the American Accounting Association Northeast Region 1992 Annual Co - 1992 - pp. April
• Dempsey, S. J. - "What Are Investors Saying?" - Vermont Business Magazine - 1992 - pp. 11-12