On June 14th, 2018 (EST), the American Accounting Association (AAA) named Prof. Feng Li, Deputy Dean and Professor of Accounting of Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF), as the Winner of the "Seminal Contributions to Accounting Literature Award" in 2018.
AAA stated in the announcement that Prof. Feng Li won this honor with two independent papers, namely: “Annual Report Readability, Current Earnings, and Earnings Persistence" (2008,Journal of Accounting and Economics), and “The Information Content of Forward-Looking Statements in Corporate Filings – A Naïve Bayesian Machine Learning Approach” (2010,Journal of Accounting Research). AAA also announced that it would present this award to Prof. Li at the annual conference of the American Accounting Association in Washington on August 8, 2018.
Prof. Li holds a Ph.D. in Accounting from the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago. Returning to China in 2015, he now serves as both Professor of Accounting and as Deputy Dean and Director of MBA Program at SAIF, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). Prior to joining SAIF, he worked at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business of the University of Michigan and became the Harry Jones Associate Professor of Accounting, with tenure, in 2011.
AAA is the largest accounting academic organization in the United States. Founded in 1916, it is also one of the most influential accounting associations in the world. The annual "Seminal Contributions to Accounting Literature Award" granted by AAA covers papers or findings published within 5-15 years prior to the award year. It is a major recognition of unique contributions to accounting education, practices, or future accounting research. The winning papers shall be original, innovative, elaborate, and well organized — based upon sound and appropriate methodology.