Diane Roberts

Diane Roberts, Professor of Accounting, is motivated by a deep concern for unethical financial reporting and non-transparent corporate accounting, considering the potential for catastrophic effects on the environment, community trust, and the global economy.

Having long been interested in environmental issues and professional accounting, Roberts engages her students in discussions that address both honorable and unlawful corporate practices, as well as historical cases that will naturally elicit debate. She ensures students carry a greater awareness of the importance of transparency with them into their future careers.

Roberts is Associate Editor of Accounting and the Public Interest, an American Accounting Association journal. She is the former chair of the American Accounting Association's Professionalism and Ethics Committee and was the director of the 15th and the 21st Annual Ethics Research Symposium.

• PhD, Accounting from the University of California, Irvine
• MS, Accounting from California State University, Sacramento
• BA, Economics, University of California, Davis

• Alfred R. Roberts Memorial Research Award, Academy of Accounting Historians, 2016.  (No relation to Alfred R. Roberts.)
• University of San Francisco Post-Sabbatical Merit Award, 2015.
• Outstanding Teaching Award, USF School of Management, 2009
• Mission Support and Advocacy Award, USF School of Management, 2007
• Outstanding Teaching Award, USF School of Management, 2006
• Co-Outstanding Faculty Teacher Award, EPMBA, USF School of Management, 2004
• Outstanding Service Award, USF School of Management, 2003
• Third Annual Glen McLaughlin Prize for Research in Accounting Ethics, given by the Oklahoma Center for Accounting Research
• Chair American Accounting Association, Professionalism and Ethics Committee, 2012 - 2014
• Accounting Department Chair, USF, 2007, 2009-2010, 2011-2013
• Editorial Board Member for Research on Professional Responsibility and Ethics in Accounting

• “Descriptive Analysis of the Contributors, Institutions and Content of the AAA Symposium on Ethics Research in Accounting 1999-2015,”  Research on Professional Responsibilities and Ethics, Vol. 21, 2016.
• “Socialization of Novice Accounting Professionals Through Professional Discourse in 1931,” Accounting Historians Journal, Vol. 42, No. 2, p. 61-87, 2015
• "Women in accounting occupations in the 1880 US Census," Accounting History Review, Vol. 23, Issue 2, 2013
• "Changing Legitimacy Narratives about Professional Ethics and Independence in the 1930's Journal of Accountancy," Accounting Historians Journal, Vol. 37, No. 2, 2010
• "Benediction for a Journal (Poem)," International Journal of Critical Accounting, Volume 3, No. 4, Inderscience Publishers, 2010
• "One World GAAP," International Journal of Critical Accounting Volume 2, No. 1, Inderscience Publishers, 2010
• "The Alchemy of Earnings Management," Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Volume 18, No. 5, Elsevier, 2007
• "Sustainability Reporting Practices in Portugal: Greenwashing or Triple Bottom Line," International Business and Economics Research Journal, Volume 6, Number 9, 2007 (with John P. Koeplin)