Is the US Economy ‘Going Dark’?
The growth of privately held businesses has some regulators and policy makers pondering whether to push for more financial transparency.
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Biography
Haresh Sapra is the Charles T. Horngren Professor of Accounting at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He served as a visiting professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business in Fall 2026 and at Imperial College from September 2016 to August 2017. Sapra's research focuses on the real effects of accounting measurement policies, disclosure regulations, and corporate governance. He has written extensively on disclosure, transparency, and financial reporting, particularly for financial institutions. For instance, he examines how accounting measurement rules shape the optimal design of prudential regulation for these institutions and the extent to which accounting and prudential regulations should be linked. His current research investigates the role of mark-to-market accounting in bank stability. His work has appeared in leading journals such as The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Games and Economic Behavior, and the Journal of Accounting and Economics. His research has also been featured in prominent publications such as The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and the Financial Times. He currently serves as editor of the Journal of Accounting Research and has received the Ernest R. Wish Accounting Research Award for his paper, "Do Mandatory Hedge Disclosures Discourage or Encourage Excessive Speculation?"
Sapra has also received teaching awards across all programs at Booth and has been recognized as one of the top-ranked professors in BusinessWeek's Guide to the Top Business Schools. He teaches an MBA elective, "Deal Structuring and Financial Reporting Implications," to both full-time and part-time MBA students; a Financial Accounting course to Executive MBA students; and an Economic Modeling of Accounting Issues course to PhD students. Here is a video that describes the course on Deal Structuring.
Sapra earned a PhD in Business Administration in 2000 from the University of Minnesota and then joined the Chicago Booth faculty in 2000.
In addition to his academic accomplishments, Sapra is an avid runner, having competed in 33 marathons, with a personal best time of 2:53:06. He is also an Abbott World Marathon Majors 6-star finisher.
Research Interests
Disclosure regulation; economic consequences of accounting measurement policies; corporate governance.
Academic Areas
- Accounting
Selected Publications
Measuring Green House Gas Emissions: What are the Costs and Benefits? with Lucas Mahieux and Gaoqing Zhang. Forthcoming Journal of Accounting Research.
Bridging Theory and Empirical Research in Accounting with Matthias Breuer, Eva Labro, and Anastasia Zakolyukina. Journal of Accounting Research 62 (2024).
Interplay between Accounting vs. Prudential Regulation, with Jeremy Bertomeu and Lucas Mahieux. The Accounting Review 98 (2023).
CECL: Timely Loan Loss Recognition and Bank Regulation with Lucas Mahieux and Gaoqing Zhang (Journal of Accounting Research, 61 (2023).
Should Banks’ Stress Tests Results Be Made Public? An Analysis of the Costs and Benefits, with Itay Goldstein, Foundations and Trends in Finance 8 (2013): 1–53.
A Real Effects Perspective to Accounting Measurement and Disclosure: Implications and Insights for Future Research with C. Kanodia, Journal of Accounting Research (2016) 54: 623–676
For a listing of research publications, please visit the university library listing page.
Working Papers
2025 - 2026 Course Schedule
2026 - 2027 Course Schedule
Get Insights from Haresh Sapra in Chicago Booth Review
Haresh Sapra: Now Is Not the Time to Relax Accounting Standards
A COVID-19 Q&A with the Charles T. Horngren Professor of Accounting.
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Why Current Accounting Rules Could Stop Banks from Lending
Chicago Booth's Haresh Sapra says that at a time when lending is crucial to keeping companies afloat, we should be careful not to repeat our past mistakes.
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