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Professor Emeritus
BCom(Hons), PhD, FCA, FCPA (Aust.)David_Lont

Tel +64 3 479 8119
Office OBS 5.12
Email david.lont@otago.ac.nz

SSRN author page: www.ssrn.com/author=11269

Professor David Lont joined the University of Otago in 1989 and has taught accounting theory, first year accounting, financial reporting and analysis and a variety of post graduate research papers.

He is a fellow of the Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand and served as a committee member for the Otago Branch (2003-2011), on the Institute's publications committee from 2006–2010 and the Institutes Corporate Annual Report Awards (2003-2011). He also served on the PhD Scholarship committee from 2008-2014, chairing this from 2012. He is also a fellow of CPA Australia and has won a highly competitive CPA Global Research Perspectives grant. He was a panel member on the Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF) 2018 Quality Evaluation exercise.

In 2014, he was offered the honorary title of senior scholar in Management at the University of California, Davis after a long association with their Graduate School of Management and he was made a fellow of ANU's ANCAAR in 2017 for his contribution to audit research and emerging scholars.

His current research interests are primarily in capital markets, and the economics of financial reporting and auditing. He has presented papers at a number of high profile conferences including the American Accounting Association national conference, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand (AFAANZ) annual conference, European Accounting Association, and plenary sessions at Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics annual conference (2004), (2008) and (2011), (2018) and ANCAAR (2012).

He has published papers in leading journals including Accounting and Finance (winning the Peter Brownell prize for best paper in 2010, and runner-up prize in 2009 and 2011). He has also published in Abacus, Accounting Forum, Asia Pacific Journal of Accounting and Economics, Auditing, A Journal of Practice and Theory, Contemporary Accounting Research, Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, the Journal of Accounting Education, and Pacific Accounting Review.

He is an associate editor for Abacus, and Accounting and Finance, and on the editorial board of International Journal of Auditing (all A rated on the ABDC list), and Pacific Accounting Review (PAR) (B rated) and is also one of its trustee. He has reviewed articles for a number of leading journals including Abacus, Accounting Education, Accounting and Finance, Accounting Horizons, Auditing, A Journal of Practice and Theory, British Accounting Review, Contemporary Accounting Research, Pacific Accounting Review, and Review of Accounting Studies and The Accounting Review. He chaired the technical committee for financial accounting papers for AFAANZ annual conference from 2006-2009. He was elected as a director of AFAANZ in 2008 and was the New Zealand President from 2011-2014.

Teaching

  • ACCT 310

Research interests

  • Capital markets
  • The economics of financial reporting and auditing

Publications

Biswas, P. K., Lont, D. H., Mason, S. A., McMeeking, K. P., & Pomare, C. (2026). Mandated joint audits: Are two auditors better than one? Journal of Accounting & Public Policy, 56. doi: 10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2025.107399 Journal - Research Article

Biswas, P. K., Griffin, P. A., & Lont, D. H. (2025). Long term trends in non-audit fees and audit quality: New evidence based on going concern opinions and financial restatements. Accounting & Finance, 65(2), 1532-1584. doi: 10.1111/acfi.13376 Journal - Research Article

Griffin, P. A., Lont, D. H., & Lubberink, M. (2025). The effects of extreme high temperature spells on financial performance. British Accounting Review, 57, 101383. doi: 10.1016/j.bar.2024.101383 Journal - Research Article

Bhuiyan, M. B. U., Man, Y., & Lont, D. H. (2024). Audit report lag and the cost of equity capital. Journal of Capital Market Studies, 8(2), 212-241. doi: 10.1108/JCMS-02-2024-0008 Journal - Research Article

Lont, D., Lubberink, M., & Griffin, P. (2022). Business can no longer ignore extreme heat events: It's becoming a danger to the bottom line. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/business-can-no-longer-ignore-extreme-heat-events-its-becoming-a-danger-to-the-bottom-line-188151 Journal - Research Other

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