Professors Matt Sooy and Kun Huo explain how accounting intersects human behaviour.
How can organizations consistently bring out the best in their employees? It’s a big question, and one that Matt Sooy (pictured right) and Kun Huo (pictured left) spend a lot of time thinking about. As Assistant Professors of Managerial Accounting and Control, the two colleagues use their love of numbers to delve into the mysteries of human motivation.
Huo studies how employee productivity is affected by things like public recognition, relative performance information, and pay dispersion.
Sooy’s research focuses on how institutional factors like sanctions and penalties affect managers’ ethical decision-making, work that earned him the 2016 Emerging Scholar Award from the Accounting Behavior and Organizations Section of the American Accounting Association.
Since 2016, the pair have been investigating the compliance consequences of targeting firms versus managers in regulatory sanctions. Together with fellow Ivey professor Lucas Monzani, they are also examining the effect of accounting transparency and leader characteristics on managers’ ethical decision-making.
Why Ivey?
Sooy: There are such wonderful people and resources here, so you can dream a bit bigger. The type of interdisciplinary projects we work on couldn’t happen anywhere else.
Huo: I spoke with people here and saw the vision of building a team of researchers who would do work that mattered.
What do you find most exciting about accounting?
Sooy: We often think of accounting as being a numbers subject, but I see it as a human subject. Accountants are at an intersection of almost everything people do. Numbers don’t exist for their own sake.
Huo: Accounting is a tool for people to make sense of what happened in the past, but it’s also a tool to direct people’s behaviour in the future. The information you have and how you present it can change how people think. It’s not only about debits and credits.
What is the best motivational advice you have received?
Sooy: It’s not really advice, but I’ve been fortunate to have been around people who came from some tough circumstances. It keeps things in perspective.
Huo: Just to have a positive outlook. Often perception is worse than the reality.
What would your ideal day look like if you never had to earn another paycheque?
Sooy: It would look a lot like what I am doing today. I’d probably sleep a little more.
Huo: I’d still be happy to work. But I love hiking and photography, so I would grab a camera and disappear into the woods for a few days.
What is your favourite piece of technology?
Sooy: Spreadsheets. They make life better.
Huo: Smart light switches. They let you feel in control.
What surprises you most about your HBA students?
Sooy: They really care about finding meaningful work that provides some larger social value. They hustle hard. Sometimes you have to remind them that life is also here, now.
Huo: They are such a diverse group and come to Ivey with a wide range of experiences and interests.
Photo: Nation Wong
Art Direction: Greg Salmela, Aegis
