Visiting Assistant Professor · Accounting · Tulane University · UT Dallas

Sunil Parupati

Hi! Welcome to my website. I am a Visiting Assistant Professor at the A.B. Freeman School of Business, Tulane University. I received my Ph.D. in Management Science (Accounting) in Summer 2026 from the Naveen Jindal School of Business, The University of Texas at Dallas. I am on the academic job market in 2027–2028.

My research is focused on corporate governance and disclosure regulation, with an emphasis on individual decision-makers, executive compensation and proxy voting.

Prior to joining the Ph.D. program, I worked as a Research Associate at the Indian School of Business and was honored with the Best Academic Associate of the Year award. I also held teaching and research associate roles at IIM Kozhikode and the Kellogg School of Management. I hold an M.B.A. and a Bachelor's degree in Accounting from Kakatiya University, India.

Outside of research, I enjoy spending time with my family, cooking authentic Indian dishes, and playing pickleball.

Research Interests

Corporate Governance Disclosure Regulation Exec. Compensation Individual Decision-Makers

Download CV

5 Working Papers

1 (2) Published (Revise &Resubmit)

4.89/5 Teaching Score (UTD)

Summer 2026 Graduated

2018 Best Academic Associate Award

Published Papers

[1]

Judge Financial Holdings and Case Outcomes: Evidence from Judge Financial Disclosures

with Gil Sadka, Jedson Pinto, Tuhin Harit

Accepted — Journal of Accounting and Economics

This paper examines the association between a judge's financial holdings and the outcome of legal cases. Using novel data on financial disclosures of judges and the civil case information of public firms across district courts in the United States between 2000 and 2021, we document multiple instances in which judges fail to recuse themselves in cases where they hold common stock. We find robust evidence that judges rule more favorably and take longer when deciding over conflicted cases as compared to unconflicted ones. We also find that investors are positively surprised by these outcomes, as reflected by stock returns to trial outcomes. Collectively, our results provide the first large-scale evidence of the relation between judges' financial holdings and case outcomes.

Presentations: Hawaii Accounting Research Conference 2024; European Accounting Association 2023; AAA Annual Meeting 2023; Georgetown 2022; UTD 2022
Media: CLS Blue Sky Blog; Empirical Legal Studies Blog (2022, 2023)

PDF CLS Blue Sky

Working Papers

[2]

Mandatory Cybersecurity Disclosure and Corporate Governance

Solo Author

Job Market Paper WP

In 2023, the SEC introduced mandatory cybersecurity disclosure rules requiring public companies to disclose cyber risk management strategies, board-level oversight of cyber risks, and the relevant expertise of responsible individuals. I find that the regulation increases disclosure and reduces information asymmetry. Firms increase the number of directors reported as having cybersecurity expertise, both by appointing new directors and by disclosing incumbent directors as experts. However, these post-regulation cyber-expert directors exhibit notably lower industry experience, smaller networks, reduced independence, and a lower likelihood of being female, while simultaneously serving on more boards than other directors—indicating firms face labor-market constraints. I also document that assigning cybersecurity oversight to audit committees reduces monitoring effectiveness: audit quality decreases and oversight costs rise, consistent with committee capacity constraints. These findings highlight unintended governance consequences of disclosure mandates requiring specialized oversight when director labor markets are constrained and committees face capacity limits.

Committee: Ashiq Ali, Rafael Copat, Jedson Pinto, Gil Sadka (Chair), Shiva Sivaramakrishnan

[3]

Front-Loaded Equity Awards: An Efficient Contracting or Rent Extraction Tool?

with Rafael Copat

Revise & Resubmit — Journal of Accounting Research

Front-loaded equity awards (FLEAs) are one-time equity grants intended as compensation for multiple years. We manually identify FLEAs and document that 9.1% of the firms in our sample grant their CEOs such an award at least once. We fail to find evidence that FLEAs are used to deliver excess compensation. Consistent with the efficient contracting hypothesis, we find that firms facing greater growth opportunities, announcing an acquisition, incurring a loss, and hiring a new CEO are more likely to adopt FLEAs. We find little support for the rent extraction hypothesis. While firms avoid FLEAs when shareholder voting rights are stronger, the announcement of a FLEA is associated with a positive and statistically significant stock market reaction of approximately 1%. We also examine how other stakeholders perceive FLEAs, and we find that media articles are more negatively toned. In addition, ISS is 39% more likely to recommend against say-on-pay, and the subsequent voting dissent is largely driven by shareholders following ISS recommendations. Overall, our results suggest that some firms avoid adopting an unconventional compensation design that may increase firm value because of the potential criticism from information intermediaries.

Presentations: AAA 2025; FARS 2025; Hawaii Accounting Research Conference 2025; CFEA 2024; SMU-UTD Cowtown 2024; Fox & Haskayne 2024; Rice Accounting PhD 2024; University of Minnesota 2024; UTD 2024

PDF

[4]

Beyond Representation: Workforce Gender Diversity, Firm Outcomes, and the Cultural Imperative

with Vikram Nanda, Kirti Sinha, Tuhin Harit

Revise & Resubmit — Management Science

We examine how gender diversity in the workforce influences firm outcomes, emphasizing the moderating role of organizational culture. Using an instrumental variable—state childcare funding in Democratic-leaning states—and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission disclosure-based workforce data, we find that diversity increases firms' research and development (R&D) investment, innovation quality, and overall firm value. These effects appear even in firms with low board diversity. We identify two mechanisms: increased productivity and reduced employee violations. Additionally, textual analyses and the MeToo movement as a cultural shock show that the positive impact of diversity is strongest in firms with supportive cultures. Our findings highlight that workforce diversity contributes to firm success beyond board representation, but its full benefits depend on an inclusive organizational environment.

Presentations: UTD 2023; AAA Annual Meeting 2024

PDF

[5]

Complements or Substitutes? CSR Mandates and Corporate Tax Compliance

with Tuhin Harit and Gurvinder Sandhu

Under Review at Contemporary Accounting Research

This study investigates the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and firms' tax aggressiveness. Prior literature documents mixed evidence on this association. We exploit an exogenous regulatory shock in India, which mandates that qualifying firms allocate at least 2% of their post-tax profits to CSR activities. Using both a difference-in-differences (DiD) framework and a regression discontinuity design (RDD), we find that publicly listed firms subject to the CSR mandate exhibit higher effective and cash tax rates. In contrast, mandated firms that failed to comply with the spending requirement display lower effective and cash tax rates. These results are consistent with the socially responsible firms hypothesis, suggesting that CSR-oriented firms perceive CSR expenditures and corporate tax payments as complementary channels of social responsibility.

PDF

Work in Progress

[6] Rethinking Pay-Performance Sensitivity Through Pay Leverage — with Shivaram Rajagopal, Stephen F. O'Byrne, and Tuhin Harit

ACCT 2010: Financial Accounting

A.B. Freeman School of Business, Tulane University

Fall 2026. Enrollment: 150 students.

Overall Score: TBA / 5.0

ACCN 2301: Introductory Financial Accounting

The University of Texas Dallas

Fall 2023. Enrollment: 60 students.

Overall Score: 4.89 / 5.0
View Evaluations ↗

Academic & Research Associate

Indian School of Business · 2015–2019

Supported faculty in delivering courses across Financial Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Data Analytics, and Accounting Information Systems at the MBA and Executive MBA levels. Conducted tutorials and review sessions to help students work through difficult concepts, graded assignments with constructive feedback, and handled day-to-day course logistics to keep things running smoothly. Worked closely with MBA and Executive MBA students to help them grasp and apply core accounting and analytics concepts in practical, meaningful ways. Awarded Best Academic Associate of the Year — PGPMAX Class 2018.

Teaching Assistant (Remote)

Kellogg School of Management · 2017–2019

Supported graduate-level courses remotely in financial accounting and managerial accounting.

Teaching Assistant

IIM Kozhikode · 2013–2014

Assisted faculty with coursework delivery and student support for MBA-level accounting courses.

Student Feedback

Honestly one of the best professors I've ever had at UT Dallas. Made a subject like accounting that I used to find boring something I am more interested to learn about instead of dreading it.

Professor Parupati was excellent and very insightful. I think he did a great job making accounting easy to understand especially for his first time teaching this course.

The teacher was amazing, and I hope he goes on to teach more students as I believe more people should get taught by him.

This professor was very passionate about teaching, always explaining questions and never trying to get rude, snarky, or dismissive when people asked. This was overall a great professor to learn from.

Teaching Interests

Core Courses

Financial Accounting · Managerial Accounting · Accounting Information Systems · Data Analytics in Accounting

Advanced / Elective

Empirical Accounting Research · Financial Statement Analysis

2026

Tulane University
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
BITSoM

2025

UTD Workshop (Proposal)
SMU-UTD Cowtown Accounting Research Conference
AAA Annual Meeting 2025 — Presenter, Discussant & Reviewer
FARS 2025 Mid-year Meeting — Presenter (January)
LSARC 2025 Lone Star Accounting Research Conference (February)

2024

AAA 2024 Annual Meeting — Presenter & Discussant
Hawaii Accounting Research Conference
Conference on Financial Economics and Accounting (CFEA)
SMU-UTD Cowtown Accounting Research Conference
Fox & Haskayne Accounting Conference
Rice Accounting Ph.D. Alumni Annual Conference
University of Minnesota — Invited Presentation
University of Texas at Dallas Workshop

2023

AAA 2023 Annual Meeting
European Accounting Association Annual Meeting
LAGC 3rd Annual Labor and Accounting Group Conference
LSARC Lone Star Accounting Research Conference
SMU-UTD Joint Accounting Workshop
University of Texas at Dallas Workshop — Presenter

2022

Georgetown University — Invited Presentation
SMU-UTD Joint Accounting Workshop
University of Texas at Dallas Workshop — Presenter

2021

SMU-UTD Joint Accounting Workshop
University of Texas at Dallas Workshop — Presenter

2017–2019

ISB Accounting Conference (December–January 2017, 2018, 2019)
JAAF Accounting Conference (December–January 2018 & 2019)

Service

Ad-hoc Reviewer — AAA Annual Meeting, FARS (2024, 2025, 2026)
Discussant — AAA Annual Meeting (2024, 2025)

Sunil Parupati

Research

Teaching