Professor Mary Barth’s research focuses on financial accounting and reporting issues, particularly topics of interest to accounting standard setters. Such topics include using fair values in financial reporting, stock-based compensation, recognition versus disclosure, asset securitizations, asset revaluations, the information roles of accruals and cash flows, the relation between financial statement quality and cost of capital, and issues related to global financial reporting and convergence.

Mary E. Barth is the Joan E. Horngren Professor of Accounting at the Stanford University, Graduate School of Business (GSB). Professor Barth was a member of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) from its inception in 2001 until 2009. She served as the Academic Advisor to the IASB from 2009 until 2011. Prior to joining the IASB, Professor Barth’s accounting standard setting activities included serving as a member of the Accounting Standards Executive Committee of the American Institute of CPAs and the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council of the Financial Accounting Standards Board. Prior to joining the faculty at Stanford in 1995, she was an Associate Professor at Harvard Business School and an audit partner in Arthur Andersen & Co. Professor Barth’s research is published in a variety of journals and has won several awards, including the American Accounting Association’s (AAA) Notable Contributions to Accounting Literature Award, the AAA's Competitive Manuscript Award, and, on two occasions each, the AAA Wildman Medal Award and the Best Paper Award of the Financial Accounting and Reporting Section of the AAA. She is the Accounting Department Editor of Management Science, has been an Associate Editor of The Accounting Review, and is on the Editorial Boards of several other academic journals. Professor Barth is a recipient of the GSB’s MBA Distinguished Teaching Award and PhD Faculty Distinguished Service Award, and served as a Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the GSB from 2002 until 2009. Professor Barth is President-Elect of the AAA and has served as its Vice President and as Chair of several AAA committees. She also has served as Vice President of the International Association for Accounting Education and Research. Professor Barth is a recipient of the Outstanding International Accounting Educator Award of the AAA’s International Section, and is an Honorary Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Professor Barth holds an AB from Cornell University, an MBA from Boston University, a PhD from Stanford University, and a DSc(HC) from Lancaster University.