Fabio B. Gaertner, an associate professor of accounting and information systems and the Cynthia and Jay Ihlenfeld Professor for Inspired Learning in Business at the Wisconsin School of Business, has been named a “2020 Best 40 Under 40 MBA Professor” by Poets & Quants.
Now in its eighth year, the annual global list recognizes outstanding young faculty with demonstrated excellence in teaching and research, as well as positive impact on students, colleagues, and their home institutions. For 2020, Poets & Quants received more than 2,000 nominations and narrowed the pool down to 160 awardees.
Gaertner has been a WSB faculty member since 2013. He currently teaches Financial Reporting for MBAs in the Wisconsin full-time, executive, and evening MBA programs. He received his PhD in accounting from the University of Arizona, and also earned both MAcc and BS degrees from Brigham Young University. Prior to WSB, he taught at Nanyang Technologies University in Singapore. Gaertner’s research includes the effects of executive compensation and taxes on corporate outcomes, asset prices, and accounting information.
Here are some excerpts from the Poets & Quants interview:
What do you enjoy most about teaching business students? I really enjoy teaching students who have professional experience. They appreciate the relevance of the topics we’re covering that might seem boring or abstract without professional context, and they make creative connections with the material by drawing on their practical experience.
What is most challenging? Teaching a technical class like accounting in a graduate program with a vast spread of familiarity with the subject. Some of my students have been chief accounting officers; others professional musicians. Developing course material, evaluations, and class discussions that will be engaging and relevant to both sets of students–and everyone in between–is by far the most challenging aspect of teaching MBA students. Of course, as is often the case, the most challenging part of the job is also the most rewarding.
What are you currently researching and what is the most significant discovery you’ve made from it? Recently, I’ve been studying tax reform, with a particular focus on analyzing the winners and losers of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). In a recent paper, my co-authors and I find evidence confirming that while the TCJA advances a nationalist political agenda, it also failed to reduce the tax burden of U.S. firms abroad.
Read the Poets and Quants interview in full.
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