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Associate Professor Michael Roberts, Accounting

303-315-8460
1250 14th St., Suite 281

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Michael Roberts

Associate Professor
Accounting

Courses Taught

  • Income Tax Accounting ACCT 4410
  • Tax Planning for Managers ACCT 6140

Areas of Expertise

  • Taxation
  • Professional Judgment in Accounting
  • JDM research

Professional History

Academic Experience:

  • Associate Professor, University of Colorado Denver Business School
  • Associate Professor of Accounting, University of Alabama
  • Director of Faculty Development, University of Alabama,
  • Price Waterhouse Visiting Tax Research Professor
  • Assistant Professor of Accounting, University of Alabama
  • Assistant Professor of Accounting, Wake Forest University
  • Accounting Instructor, Ouachita Baptist University

Professional Experience:

  • Staff Auditor, Touche, Ross & Company, Atlanta, Georgia.
  • Assistant Accounting Manager, Del Mar Company, Athens, Georgia.

Selected Publications

Refereed Articles:

  • “Debiasing Balanced Scorecard Evaluations.” Behavioral Research in Accounting 16 (2004), pp. 75-88. Michael L Roberts, Thomas Albright, and Aleecia R. Hibbets.
  • “Using Declarative Knowledge to Improve Information Search Performance.” The Journal of the American Taxation Association 25 (Spring 2003), pp. 21-38. Michael L. Roberts and Robert H. Ashton.
  • “An Experimental Study of the Effects of Marital Status and Family Size on Tax Fairness Judgments.” Advances in Taxation 12 (2000), pp. 51-76. Anne L. Christensen, Peggy A. Hite, and Michael L. Roberts.
  • "Tax Accountants Judgment/Decision Making Research: A Review and Synthesis.” The Journal of the American Taxation Association 19 (Spring 1998), pp. 78-121. Michael L. Roberts.
  • "The Influence of Contextual Factors on IRS Agents' Assessments of Taxpayer Negligence." The Journal of the American Taxation Association 17 (1995), pp. 62-77. Michael L. Roberts.
  • "Understanding Attitudes Towards Progressive Taxation." Public Opinion Quarterly 58 (1994), pp. 165-190. Michael L. Roberts, Peggy A. Hite, and Cassie F. Bradley.
  • "Progressive Taxation, Fairness, and Compliance." Law & Policy 16 (1994), pp. 27-48. Michael L. Roberts and Peggy A. Hite.
  • "An Experimental Approach to Changing Taxpayers' Perceptions of Fairness and Compliance." The Journal of the American Taxation Association 16 (Spring 1994), pp. 67-86. Michael L. Roberts.
  • "An Analysis of Tax Reform Based on Taxpayers' Perceptions of Fairness and Self-Interest." Advances in Taxation 4 (1992), pp. 115-137. Peggy A. Hite and Michael L. Roberts.
  • "The Impact of Valuation Penalties on Estate Tax Valuations." Advances in Taxation 4 (1992), pp. 211-223. Michael L. Roberts and Ted D. Englebrecht.
  • "An Experimental Investigation of Taxpayer Judgments on Rate Structure in the Individual Income Tax System." The Journal of the American Taxation Association 13 (Fall 1991), pp. 47-63. Peggy A. Hite and Michael L. Roberts.
  • “Interpreting Disordinal Interactions in Accounting Behavioral Research." Advances in Accounting (1991), pp. 49-60. Michael T. Dugan and Michael L. Roberts.
  • "An Examination of Tax Practitioners' Valuation Judgments for Closely Held Corporations." Advances in Taxation 3 (1990). Michael L. Roberts.
  • "The Stockholders' Equity Section: Form Without Substance?" Accounting Horizons (December 1990), pp. 35-47. Michael L. Roberts, William D. Samson, and Michael T. Dugan.
  • "Phantom Taxes and Phantom Income: A Study in Accounting Misconceptions Applied to Regulated Utilities," Accounting Horizons (March 1989). Michael L. Roberts, B. Anthony Billings, and Ted D. Englebrecht.
  • "Excludability of Damages: The Tax Court Reverses Itself," The Journal of Taxation (December 1988). Edward J. Schnee and Michael L. Roberts.
  • "The Arkansas Best Decision," The Tax Adviser (November 1988). Edward J. Schnee and Michael L. Roberts.
  • "Pre-Combination Tax Attributes - TRA 86," The CPA Journal (February 1988). Michael L. Roberts and B. Anthony Billings.

Other Refereed Publications:

  • "Eggstra Enterprises," case published by the American Institute of CPAs (1992). William D. Samson and Michael L. Roberts.

Invited Publications:

  • Educating the Tax Professional,” Chapter 16 in Methods, Topics and Issues in Tax Education: A Year 2000 Perspective. Sarasota, Florida: American Taxation Association (2001), pp. 209-217. Gem Baltazar, Kimo E. Hemmes, and Michael L. Roberts.

  • "Really Useful Research," Chapter Six in Behavioral Tax Research: Prospects and Judgment Calls. Sarasota, Florida: American Taxation Association (1995), pp. 127-149. Christine Purdie and Michael L. Roberts.

Working Papers:

  • “A Cognitive Task Analysis Approach to Understanding the Acquisition of Audit Knowledge.” Michael L. Roberts and Jane Dillard-Eggers.
  • "Effects of Dispositional Motivation on Knowledge and Performance in Accounting." Robert H. Ashton and Michael L. Roberts.
  • "The Effect of Client Preference on Accountants’ Professional Judgments in Audit and Tax Reporting." Michael L. Roberts.
  • "The Effects of Information Identification on Tax Judgment." Michael L. Roberts and George F. Klersey. Being revised for third review at The Journal of the American Taxation Association.
  • “Underutilization of Unique Measures in the Balanced Scorecard.” Michael L. Roberts, Thomas Albright, and Aleecia R. Hibbets.
  • “Effects of Intrinsic Motivation on Utilization of Balanced Scorecard Measures.” Michael L. Roberts, Thomas Albright, and Aleecia R. Hibbets.
  • “Auditor Risk Preferences and Client Retention.” George F. Klersey and Michael L. Roberts.

Research in Progress:

  • “The Importance of Technical Competency for Entry into the Accounting Profession: A Question of Values, Post-Enron.” Michael L. Roberts.
  • “Effects of Hard vs. Soft GAAP and Individual Conservatism/Aggression on Accountants’ Professional Judgments in Client Confrontations.” Michael L. Roberts. At data analysis stage.
  • “Effects of General Domain and Task Specific Knowledge, Cognitive Processing Style, Motivation, and Task Difficulty on Information Search Performance.” Michael L. Roberts. At data analysis stage.
  • “The Tax Knowledge Inventory: Measures of General and Specific Domain Knowledge.” Michael L. Roberts. At data analysis stage.
  • "Taxation and Business Decisions." A case/textbook for introductory and advanced tax courses using active, cooperative, and principled learning.
  • “Taxation and Business Decisions Facilitator’s Guide.”

  • "Self-Paced Electronic Tax Research Learning System." A multimedia program integrated with Internet tax databases, designed for in-class use in undergraduate and graduate tax courses. PriceWaterhouse Coopers.

Proceedings and Presentations:

  • “Auditor Risk Preferences and Client Retention.” George F. Klersey and Michael L. Roberts. American Accounting Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco (August 2005).
  • “The Importance of Technical Competency for Entry into the Accounting Profession: A Question of Values, Post-Enron.” Michael L. Roberts. American Accounting Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco (August 2005).
  • “A Cognitive Task Analysis Approach to Understanding the Acquisition of Audit Knowledge.” Michael L. Roberts and Jane Dillard-Eggers. International Symposium on Audit Research, Maastricht (July 2004).
  • “A Cognitive Task Analysis Approach to Understanding the Acquisition of Audit Knowledge.” Michael L. Roberts and Jane Dillard-Eggers. American Accounting Association Annual Meeting, Honolulu (August 2003).
  • “Prioritizing the Core Competencies.” American Taxation Association Midyear Meeting, St. Petersburg (February 2003).
  • “Increasing Utilization of Unique Measures in the Balanced Scorecard: The Effects of Awareness and Fairness.” Michael L. Roberts, Thomas Albright, and Aleecia R. Hibbets. 2003 Management Accounting Section Research Conference, San Diego (January 2003).
  • “The Perceived Fairness of Taxing Social Security Benefits: The Effect of Explanations Based on Different Dimensions of Tax Equity." Discussant. 2000 Accounting, Behavior, and Organizations Research Conference, Chicago (October 2000).
  • “The Future of Tax Education.” American Taxation Association Midyear Meeting, Orlando (February 2000).
  • “Using Task-Specific Knowledge to Improve Information Search Performance.” Robert H. Ashton and Michael L. Roberts. American Accounting Association Annual Meeting, San Diego (August 1999).
  • “Using Cases to Motivate Student Learning and Integrate the Development of Technical and Interpersonal Skills.” American Taxation Association Midyear Meeting, San Francisco (February 1999).
  • “How to Develop Your Students’ Problem Solving Skills With a Practical (Case-Based) and Supportive (Guided Active Learning) Classroom Environment.” The Colloquium on Change in Accounting Education, Scottsdale, Arizona (November 1998).
  • “Developing Tax Consultants’ Critical Thinking.” PricewaterhouseCoopers Tax Colloquium, New Orleans, Louisiana (August 1998).
  • “Creating Faculty Research Internship Opportunities.” American Taxation Association Midyear Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia (February 1998).
  • "Relevance, Performance, Reflection: Helping Your Students Develop into Business Advisors." The Colloquium on Change in Accounting Education, Scottsdale, Arizona (November 1997).
  • “Tax Research: A Process Approach to Resources and Methods.” American Accounting Association Continuing Education Workshop, Dallas, Texas (August 1997).
  • “Perspectives on Tax Research: Tax JDM Research,” presented at the 1997 Midyear Meeting of the American Taxation Association, San Diego, California (February 1997).
  • “Effects of Information Identification on Tax Decision Making,” workshop presentation, Indiana University (October 1995).
  • "Identifying Expert Decision Making in Tax Applications: A Multimethod Investigation," presented at the 1995 American Accounting Association Annual Meeting, Orlando, Florida (August 1995).
  • "Creating a Greenhouse for Learning: Cultivating Lifelong Learners," American Accounting Association Continuing Education Workshop, Orlando, Florida (August 1995).
  • "Prospects for Behavioral Tax Research: The Perspective of Large CPA Firms," presented at the 1995 Midyear Meeting of the American Taxation Association, San Antonio, Texas (February 1995).
  • "The Influence of Contextual Factors on IRS Agents' Assessments of Taxpayer Negligence," presented at The Journal of the American Taxation Association Conference, San Antonio, Texas (February 1995).
  • "Needs Assessment and Instructional Systems Design," presented at the 1994 Midyear Meeting of the American Taxation Association, Atlanta, Georgia (February 1994).
  • "Leveraging Competitive Advantage through Continuing Education," Price Waterhouse Tax Colloquium, San Francisco, California (August 1993).
  • "Understanding Progressivity: An Empirical Investigation Using Abstract and Concrete Framing," presented at the 1994 American Accounting Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, California (August 1994).
  • "Independence Versus Advocacy: CPAs' Responses to Client Conflict in Audit and Tax Situations," presented at the Third Annual University of Illinois Tax Symposium, Arthur Andersen Center for Professional Education, St. Charles, Illinois (October 1993).
  • "CPAs' Responses to Client Conflict in Audit and Tax Situations," presented at the University of Southern California/Deloitte & Touche Audit Judgment Symposium, Oxnard, California (February 1993).
  • "Taxpayers' Preferences for Progressivity in the Individual Income Tax," presented at the 1991 National Tax Association Annual Meeting, Williamsburg, Virginia (November 1991).
  • "Attitudes of Small Business Toward Compliance and IRS Services," presented at the 1991 Internal Revenue Service Research Conference, Washington, D.C. (November 1991).
  • "Advocacy Versus Independence: CPAs' Response to Conflict in Auditing Situations," presented at the 1991 American Accounting Association Annual Meeting, Nashville, Tennessee (August 1991).
  • "An Experimental Investigation of Taxpayer Judgments on Rate Structure in the Individual Income Tax System," presented at the 1991 Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Amsterdam, Netherlands (June 1991).
  • "Communications Strategies to Correct Taxpayer Misconceptions," presented at the Internal Revenue Service's 1990 Annual Research Conference in Washington, D.C. (November 1990).
  • "An Experimental Investigation of Taxpayer Judgments on Rate Structure in the Individual Income Tax System," (with Peggy A. Hite) presented at the 1990 American Accounting Association Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada (August 1990).
  • "Understanding Progressivity: An Empirical Investigation of Preferences Using Abstract and Concrete Information," (with Peggy A. Hite and Cassie F. Bradley) presented at the 1990 American Accounting Association Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada (August 1990).
  • "Taxpayers' Opinions Regarding the 15 and 28 Percent Tax Brackets Enacted by TRA '86," (with Peggy A. Hite) presented at the Internal Revenue Service 1989 Annual Research Conference (November 1989).

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Service Activities

  • Ad hoc reviewer for the National Science Foundation
  • Ad hoc reviewer for The Accounting Review
  • Ad hoc reviewer for Public Opinion Quarterly
  • Ad hoc reviewer for Contemporary Accounting Research
  • Ad hoc reviewer for National Tax Journal
  • Ad hoc reviewer for The Journal of the American Taxation Association
  • Ad hoc reviewer for Behavioral Research in Accounting
  • Editorial Board Member for Advances in Taxation
  • Editorial Board Member for The Journal of the American
  • Taxation Association (1991-94)
  • Resident Faculty, 1995 and 1996 AAA New Faculty Consortium
  • Chair, Tax Education Committee, American Taxation Association (2003-04)
  • Member, Steering Committee, American Institute of CPAs 1998 Tax Educators' Symposium (1997)
  • Member, Steering Committee, American Institute of CPAs 1996 Tax Educators' Symposium (1995)
  • Member, Tax Education Committee of the American Institute of CPAs Taxation Division (1994-97)
  • Member, Teaching Resources Committee of the American Taxation Association (1997-99)
  • Chair, Research Resources and Methodologies Commitee of the American Taxation Association (1996-97)
  • Member, Annual Program Committee of the American Taxation Association (1995-96)
  • Member, Relations with CPA Firms Committee of the American Taxation Association (1994-95)
  • Member, Research Resources and Methodologies Committee of the American Taxation Association (1993-94)
  • Member, Publications Committee of the American Taxation Association (1992-93)
  • Member, Midyear Meeting Committee of the American Taxation Association (1991-92)

  • Chairperson, Annual Program Committee of the American Taxation Association (1990-91)

Professional Memberships

  • American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
  • American Accounting Association
  • Georgia Bar Association