Fisher School professor receives doctoral mentorship award
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Dr. W. Robert Knechel, Frederick E. Fisher Eminent Scholar and Director of the International Accounting and Auditing Center, is one of five recipients of the 2018-2019 Doctoral Dissertation Advisor/Mentoring Award from the University of Florida Graduate School.
The award recognizes a standard of excellence, innovation and effectiveness in mentoring doctoral students through their final dissertation. Knechel is the third Warrington faculty member to receive the award.
“I am very honored for this recognition,” Knechel said. “Doctoral education is often its own reward as you watch students develop and thrive. It is their work that makes them successful. I simply help along the way, and I have had the privilege of guiding some excellent students over the past two decades.”
Knechel has advised about a dozen Ph.D. students at the Fisher School, in addition to students at Maastricht University (Netherlands), the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), the University of Auckland (New Zealand) and Monash University (Australia). He is currently advising two students, with one in their third year of studies and the other currently preparing to finish. Knechel’s former Ph.D. student Devin Williams, now at the University of Illinois, received the Outstanding Auditing Dissertation Award from the American Accounting Association last year.
Knechel has been a faculty member at the University of Florida Fisher School of Accounting since 1981. He is also a Visiting Research Professor of Auditing at the University of Auckland Business School and Research Professor in Auditing at KU Leuven. His primary areas of research include issues related to assurance, control, performance measurement and auditing. His research has been published in several top accounting and auditing journals including the Journal of Accounting Research, The Accounting Review, The International Journal of Auditing and Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory.
Knechel received an honorary doctorate in 2018 from BI Norwegian Business School in recognition for his significant contributions to the field of accounting. He is a member of the Standing Advisory Group of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and a board member of The Foundation for Audit Research in the Netherlands. Knechel received his B.S. in Accounting from the University of Delaware and his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
