Alexandra A. Scherf
Assistant Professor of Accounting
London School of Economics
ABOUT
I'm an assistant professor of accounting at the London School of Economics. I received my PhD in Business Administration (Accounting and Management) from Harvard Business School in 2021. I hold an MSc in Accountancy from Bentley University (2014), an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge (2013), and an AB in History from Harvard College (2012). I previously worked as an auditor for PwC in Boston.
My research interests include corporate misconduct, fraud, financial regulation and enforcement, corporate governance, and public disclosure.
RESEARCH
Publications
How does judges' personal exposure to financial fraud affect white-collar sentencing? (with Trung Nguyen and Aneesh Raghunandan), Journal of Accounting Research 63(2), 2025
How do online conflict disclosures support enforcement? Evidence from personal financial disclosures and public corruption (solo-authored), The Accounting Review 99(4), 2024
Creating firm disclosures (with Amir Amel-Zadeh and Eugene F. Soltes), Journal of Financial Reporting 4(2), 2019
Working papers
Legal intermediaries and mandatory private reporting: Evidence from M&A (with Pietro Ramella and Carol Seregni)
A theory of auditor selection in competitive markets (with Deniz Kattwinkel, Jan Knoepfle, and Peter Wagner)
Corporate misconduct exposure and support for regulation (with Trung Nguyen and Aneesh Raghunandan)
Works in progress
Licensure pathways, human capital beliefs, and career outcomes in the accounting profession (with Xi Li and Parth Shah)
Environmental litigation and disclosure
TEACHING
I teach the master's level course AC 412: Accountability, Organizations, and Risk Management, and AC 462: Forensic Accounting Analytics. I have written the following original cases for my courses:
“Carillion PLC and its auditors” in Kenneth A. Merchant and Wim A. Van der Stede, 2023, Management control systems: Performance measurement, evaluation, and incentives, London: Pearson, Ltd.
*Case and teaching note available upon request.
“Fraud detection via audit techniques” (with RobotX), 2026.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
American Accounting Association Annual Meeting Outstanding Reviewer, 2024
Wyss Award for Excellence in Doctoral Research, Harvard Business School, 2021 (press coverage here)
Thomas T. Hoopes Prize for Outstanding Scholarly Work, Harvard College, 2012