Heather L. Pesch

Heather L. Pesch is an Assistant Professor of accounting at Oregon State University College of Business. Shecurrently teaches ACTG 379: Accounting Analytics both in-person on the OSU Corvallis campus and online for the OSU E-campus. Previously, she has taught auditing courses, introductory and intermediate financial reporting courses and cost accounting courses. 

Professor Pesch's research focuses on how cognitive and social forces influence judgment and decision making, particularly with respect to control systems, social responsibility, misconduct and whistle-blowing. She is particularly interested in how individual behaviors and strategies within an organization can lead to emergent macro-level properties (e.g., organizational norms). She works to match the research approach to the question at hand and thus, has utilized varied approaches, including experimentation, empirical archival, field study and agent-based modeling (a type of computer simulation).

Working Papers & Work in Process:
"The impact of internal controls on corrupt organizational norms". Preparing for submission to Accounting Organizations and Society.

"Pre-existing Controls, Organizational Identities and the Emergence of Formal Management Controls in a Family Firm: A Field Study" with Chris Akroyd and Julia Wu. Under review at Accounting Horizons.

"Executive charitable giving, occupational fraud, and whistle-blowing program" with Kara Obermire and Tuyet Tu. Preparing for submission to The Accounting Review.

"Faith at Work: The Role of Religious Values in Management Control" with Chris Akroyd, Kali Henderson, and Winnie O'Grady. Preparing for submission to The Accounting Review.

"On the Efficacy of Self-Reporting Regimes: Leveraging the Psychological Immune System to Constrain Financial Statement Fraud Recidivism" with Pat Hurley.

"Staff use of AI in business and accounting" with Blayze Baba.