Auditing & Assurance Services ISE

Timothy J. Louwers is the Director of the School of Accounting and KPMG Eminent Professor in Accounting at James Madison University.Professor Louwers received his undergraduate and masters degrees from The Citadel and his PhD from Florida State University. Prior to beginning his academic career, he worked in public accounting with KPMG, specializing in financial, governmental, and information systems auditing. He is a certified public accountant (South Carolina and Virginia) and a certified information systems auditor. He is also certified in financial forensics.Professor Louwerss research interests include auditors reporting decisions and ethical issues in the accounting profession. He has authored or coauthored more than 60 publications on a wide range of accounting, auditing, and technology-related topics, including articles in the Journal of Accounting Research, Accounting Horizons, the Journal of Business Ethics, Behavioral Research in Accounting, Decision Sciences, the Journal of Forensic Accounting, Issues in Accounting Education, the Journal of Accountancy, the CPA Journal, and Todays CPA. Some of his published work has been reprinted in Russian and Chinese. He is a respected lecturer on auditing and technology-related issues and has received teaching excellence awards from the University of Houston and Louisiana State University. He has appeared on both local and national television news broadcasts, including MSNBC and CNN news programs.

As auditors, we are trained to investigate beyond appearances to determine the underlying facts-in other words, to look beneath the surface. Whether evaluating the Enron and World-Com scandals of the early 2000s, the financial crisis of 2007-2008, the Wirecard fraud in 2020 or present-day issues and challenges related to significant estimation uncertainty, understanding the auditor's responsibility related to fraud, maintaining a clear perspective, probing for details, and understanding the big picture are indispensable to effective auditing.