UNH Today

Some of the brightest minds in accounting and finance recently came together to discuss key trends and research at the second Bretton Woods Accounting and Finance Ski Conference hosted by the UNH Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics.  

Around 80 academics attended the conference, held from March 13 to 16 at Bretton Woods’ historic resort. They represented universities across the country and internationally, including Harvard, Yale, the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford and Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.  

Researchers delved into various subjects over three days of presentations and led discussion forums. Some notable topics included:  

• The Price of an Accountant Shortage   
• Capital Market Consequences of Generative AI   
• Can ChatGPT Help Investors Process Financial Information?   
• Access to Financing and Racial Pay Gap Inside Firms   
• Roe v. Rates: Reproductive Health and Public Financing Costs  

Overall, 21 papers were accepted out of 274 submissions to the conference, an acceptance rate of 7.7%, consistent with the elite-level accounting and finance conference, according to Stephen Ciccone, executive chair of the conference and associate professor of accounting and finance at Paul College.   

The 274 submissions also represent an almost 20% increase over last year’s inaugural conference.     

“With the higher numbers came impressive quality,” Ciccone says. “According to several reviewers on our external program committee, the quality of papers received in the second year was noticeably higher than that of the first year, and the first-year quality was already quite impressive.”   

Ciccone says hosting such conferences is a great way to bring leading scholars together in an environment that lends itself to both professional and casual interactions. This leads to more significant connections to colleagues, collaboration opportunities and potentially greater involvement with leading journals.   

According to Emily Xu, professor of accounting and finance and chair of accounting, having a signature event also raises Paul College's reputation and research profile.   

“There were high-caliber schools represented at this conference,” Xu says. “To bring together this frontier research at an event hosted by UNH Paul College promotes our research reputation among the elite schools.”   

Bretton Woods was selected to host the conference because of its historical significance. The 1944 Bretton Woods Conference, held at the Omni Mount Washington Hotel near the end of World War II, created the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and established the dollar as the primary world currency.