CBR Briefing #52
Investors use the payments as a proxy for financial strength.
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Biography
Douglas J. Skinner is the Sidney Davidson Distinguished Service Professor of Accounting at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is a leading expert in corporate disclosure, financial reporting, and payout policies.
Skinner joined Booth in 2005. He served as Deputy Dean for Faculty for nine years, from 2015 to 2024, and Interim Dean in 2016-17. He was responsible for the construction and financing of the University’s Hong Kong campus, the home of Booth’s EMBA program in Asia, completed in 2018. Prior to joining Booth, Skinner served on the faculty of the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan where he was KPMG Professor of Accounting.
Skinner is an independent trustee and chairs the audit committee for Harbor Funds, Harbor Funds II, and Harbor ETF Trust, a mutual fund and ETF complex that offers actively-managed mutual fund and ETF products. From time to time, he serves as an expert financial economist in litigation involving complex accounting, anti-trust, securities, and valuation matters.
Skinner holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics with first class honors in Accounting and Finance from Macquarie University in Sydney and a master’s degree and PhD in Applied Economics from the University of Rochester.
Skinner’s research addresses topics that span financial reporting, disclosure, auditing, and corporate finance, focusing on the capital markets/valuation effects of firms’ financial policies. His research is published in leading academic journals including the Journal of Accounting and Economics, the Journal of Accounting Research, The Accounting Review, the Journal of Finance, and the Journal of Financial Economics.
Skinner previously served as editor of the Journal of Accounting Research and the Journal of Accounting and Economics, both top tier academic accounting journals.
Skinner has extensive experience teaching in Booth’s MBA, EMBA, Executive Education, and Ph.D. programs. He currently teaches Managerial Accounting in Booth’s EMBA program and Empirical Research Methods in Booth’s PhD program. He has previously taught Corporate Finance and Valuation, Financial Accounting, and Financial Statement Analysis. He has advised PhD students who have taken faculty positions at Cornell, Harvard, Michigan, MIT, Wharton, Stanford, London Business School, among other top schools around the world.
Research Interests
Corporate financial reporting and disclosure practice; corporate payout policy.
Academic Areas
- Accounting
Selected Publications
"Why Firms Voluntarily Disclose Bad News," Journal of Accounting Research (1994).
"Earnings Disclosures and Stockholder Lawsuits," Journal of Accounting and Economics (1997).
With Richard Sloan, "Earnings Surprises, Growth Expectations, and Stock Returns or Don't Let an Earnings Torpedo Sink Your Portfolio," Review of Accounting Studies (2002).
With Harry DeAngelo and Linda DeAngelo, "Are Dividends Disappearing? Dividend Concentration and the Consolidation of Earnings," Journal of Financial Economics (2004).
With Harry DeAngelo and Linda DeAngelo, “Corporate Payout Policy,” Foundations and Trends in Finance (2008).
For a listing of research publications, please visit the university library listing page.
Working Papers
2025 - 2026 Course Schedule
Get Insights from Douglas J. Skinner in Chicago Booth Review
CBR Briefing #31
Ultrafast traders can exploit time delays in postings of company stock filings.
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Why Banks Pay Ever-Larger Dividends
Ever since the 2007–10 financial crisis, banks in the United States have been asking regulators for the right to resume and increase dividend payments to shareholders.
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