Karim Jamal

About

Karim Jamal is a professor in the Department of Accounting and Business Analytics at the Alberta School of Business. In 2009, he became chair of the department and, later that year, the Alberta Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAA) made him a fellow of chartered accountants. He accepted his current position at the University of Alberta in 2002, and held and continues to hold several positions in and outside of the U of A before and afterward.

Jamal earned his bachelors of commerce from the University of Manitoba in 1980, his masters of science in business administration from the University of British Columbia in 1984 and a PhD in business administration with a concentration in accounting from the University of Minnesota in 1991. In 2023, he earned a lifetime achievement award from CPA Alberta and was inducted into the Canadian Accounting Hall of Fame. 

His research interests include developing cognitive models of expert decision-making in accounting, auditing and financial markets, and understanding the development of common knowledge and how well individuals can assess the technical knowledge and/or predict the preferences of other people. Part of his work involves automated computer experiments that focus on testing privacy practices of e-commerce websites or assess the functionality of simple heuristic strategies in market environments.

Research

Articles

• Emergence of information aggregation to rational expectations equilibria in markets populated by biased heuristic traders. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, (Forthcoming, 2025). (Karim Jamal, Michael Maier and Shyam Sunder)
• Determinants of Audit Engagement Profitability. The Accounting Review, (2019). Vol 94 (6): pp 253-283.(Kris Hoang, Karim Jamal and Hun-Tong Tan).
• Demand For and Assessment of Audit Quality in Private Companies. Abacus, (2018). Vol 54 (3): pp 1-34. (Adam Esplin, Karim Jamal and Shyam Sunder).
• Simple Agents, Intelligent Markets. Computational Economics .(2017). Vol 49(4): 653-675. (Karim Jamal, Michael Maier and Shyam Sunder)
• Do Big 4 Firms Benefit or Suffer Losses When Another Big 4 Firm Fails to Detect Fraud? Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting & Economics (APJAE), (2016). Vol 25 (1-2): 1-20. (Karim Jamal, Qiliang Liu and Le Luo).
• Does Disclosure of Conflict of Interest Increase or Decrease Bias? Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory. (2016). Vol 35(1): 89-99. (Karim Jamal, Erin Marshal and Hun-Tong Tan).

Non-published reports

• Comments to SEC File No. S7-13-15: Possible Revisions to Audit Committee Disclosures. Sent as submission of The Auditing Section of the American Accounting Association (Chair Mikhail Pevzner; Members John Abernathy, Robert Felix, Ganesh Krishnamoorthy). Submitted October 8, 2015.
• Comments to PCAOB on Rulemaking Docket No. 034: Proposed Auditing Standard on The Auditor’s Report on an Audit of Financial Statements, as well as the Auditors Responsibilities Regarding Other Information. (Karim Jamal and Shyam Sunder). Submitted October 14, 2013.
• Comments on Audit Committee Working Group (ACWG) discussion paper on Enhancing Audit Quality: The Role of the Audit Committee in External Auditor Oversight. Issued by CICA and CPAB eaq.ac@cica.ca. Submitted March 12, 2013.
•  Comments on IAASB’s Invitation to Comment on Improving the Auditor’s Report. (Karim Jamal and Shyam Sunder). Submitted October 15, 2012.

Teaching

Teaching Experience

• Introductory Financial Accounting at the University of Minnesota. 
• Introduction to Management Control (ACCTG 322); 
• Accounting Theory (ACCTG 416); 
• Intermediate Managerial Accounting (ACCTG 424), 
• Introductory Auditing (ACCTG 456); 
• MBA Management Accounting (ACCTG 522) 

I have also taught a research survey course for PH.D students (ACCTG 701), as well as more specialized Ph.d research seminars on JDM research (ACCTG 702 and ACCTG 711) and a research paper critique course (ACCTG 703).

ACCTG 703B - Accounting Research Workshop

Based on the Department's research workshop program, this course will discuss research methodology as it applies to accounting and ensure students learn how to review/evaluate current research and literature. Students are expected to present their own research and to analyze the research of others. This workshop is a single term course offered over two terms. Students are expected to attend regularly throughout their doctoral program, but register for credit in their second year (prior to taking accounting comprehensive examination).

ACCTG 706 - Introduction to Behavioral and Experimental Accounting Research

A generalist course on research that is primarily oriented to individual behavior in accounting settings. Topics covered will include individual cognitive processes and limitations, the experimental method, and a broad survey of experimental and field studies (drawing on psychology and economics) conducted in accounting settings. Open to all doctoral students or with the written permission of the instructor. Approval of the Associate Dean, PhD Program is also required for non-PhD students.

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