Michael H. Granof
Professor, Department of Accounting | The University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business
Austin, TX, UNITED STATES
Government and not-for-profit budgeting and accounting, tax policy, and entitlements
Areas of Expertise (10)
Public Entitlement Programs
Social Security
Government Budgeting
Governmental Accounting Standards
Federal Accounting Standards
Public Accounting
Tax and Budget Policy
Government Audits
Government and Non-Profit Accounting
Public Accounting Regulation and Policy
Biography
Michael H. Granof is an accounting professor and expert on government and not-for-profit accounting and financial reporting standards, and is an influential writer and speaker on the topic of government budget issues including social security, entitlements, tax policy, and projected budgetary concerns in the U.S., including the long-term viability of the social security program.
Granof is the Ernst & Young Distinguished Centennial Professor in Accounting at the McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin, the No. 1 accounting program in higher education according to all major ranking publications. He is also a professor of public affairs at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the university.
He is a member of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board since 2010, and the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board since 2009. He has served as a member of governmental advisory committees and councils since the 1980s.
Granof is the author of Government and Not-for-Profit Accounting: Concepts and Practices (New York: John Wiley), and he received the Enduring Lifetime Contribution Award in 2010 from the American Accounting Association. He is a distinguished scholar and a popular instructor frequently recognized for his teaching excellence.
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Education (3)
University of Michigan: Ph.D., Accounting 1972
Columbia University: MBA., Business Administration 1965
Hamilton College: B.A. (Hons.), Economics
Media Appearances (13)
Trump’s Infrastructure Plan Isn’t Much of a Plan
Fortune online
2017-07-12
President Donald Trump hasn’t fully outlined his prescription for making American infrastructure great again, but he has called for a major dose of public-private partnerships—also known as P3s. These P3s, he promises, provide “better procurement methods, market discipline and a long-term focus on maintaining assets .”
Commentary: Change federal fiscal policy now
Statesman online
2017-01-28
The federal government’s 2016 annual financial report, which was recently released, should be required reading not only for our new president and other administration officials but for members of Congress as well. It is where their dreams will meet reality.
Interest on U.S. Debt is Economy-Killer, 2016 Annual Financial Report Shows
Fort Worth Star-Telegram online
2017-01-23
Michael Granof writes "the federal government’s just-released 2016 annual financial report should be required reading not only for our new president and other administration officials, but for members of Congress as well."
Candidates should be more realistic in economic proposals, professor says
The Daily Texan online
2016-03-08
Michael Granof, a public affairs and accounting professor, is a Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board member. Granof helps set accounting standards for the federal government.
Michael Granof: Candidates touting huge spending cuts live in a fairy tale
Dallas Morning News online
2016-03-02
Presidential candidates should be reading the 2015 Consolidated Financial Report of the US Government. This financial report is far more forthright than almost any corporate report, explicitly making the case that the federal government “is not fiscally sustainable.”
College Football and Capitalism
The New York Times online
2015-01-09
That big-time college football has become a multibillion-dollar industry raises the question of why state governments should be in a business in direct competition with professional sports teams.
Financial Accounting Foundation Reappoints Michael H. Granof to a Second Term on the GASB
Business Wire online
2015-02-24
The Board of Trustees of Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) appointed Michael H. Granof to a second term as a member of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB).
At 75, Social Security Isn't Ready to Retire
Star-Telegram print
2015-01-27
For an alarming number of Americans, Social Security is the only resource standing between what should be their golden years and a retirement of dross.
A Misguided Pension Reform for Government
Governing online
2013-09-25
Detroit's bankruptcy filing has brought renewed calls for public-pension restructuring. Granof warns against misguided reforms.
Football Wins Can Help College's Academic Reputation, Economists Say
Athens Banner-Herald online
2012-07-06
Granof is a long-time skeptic of huge university athletics budgets. Only a handful of the largest athletics programs can support themselves, he said.
Back-Door Taxes Hit U.S. With Financing in the Dark
Bloomberg online
2009-10-26
“There’s a basic rule of finance: Don’t get into anything you don’t understand,” said Granof. “Many municipalities had no clue as to what they were buying.”
Soup-Kitchen Accounting
New York Times print
2009-02-17
Regrettably, the big banks that have been granted billions from the Troubled Asset Relief Program are less transparent in their financial reporting than the local soup kitchen that gets federal support.
Retiree Health Care Issue "Goes Nowhere" in Nebraska
USA Today online
2009-02-16
"The liability exists, whether you report it or not. The new surgeon general can't solve illness in America by recalibrating the thermometer," Granof says.
Sample Talks (1)
Crisis in Retirement: Are Aging Workers Heading for a Fiscal Cliff?
The data makes it clear that most retirees have inadequate savings and inadequate knowledge of what it will take to maintain the standard of living to which they have become accustomed. At the same time, owing to the fiscal pressures facing the federal government, there may not be the political will to maintain Social Security benefits at their current level, let alone enhance them. As individuals, therefore, are we doing what is necessary to prepare for our own retirement? And collectively, as a nation, are we doing what is required to ensure the financial security of our retirees?
Style
Availability
- Keynote
- Panelist
Articles (7)
Michael H. Granof Citations
Google Scholar
Listing of top scholarly works by Michael H. Granof.
A 10-K for the taxpayer.
Journal of Accountancy
2016-10-01
The article provides an overview of the "2015 Financial Report of the United States Government" to help accountants understand the financial position and condition of the federal government. Topics discussed include the financial report prepared by the Treasury Department in cooperation with the Office of Management and Budget, basic financial statements and fiscal sustainability and social insurance.
Research on accounting should learn from the past.
Chronicle of Higher Education
2007-12-31
Academic research on accounting has became significantly more quantitative and analytical than in previous decades. New paradigms have increased our understanding of how financial information affects the decisions of investors.
A Delphi study of goals and evaluation criteria of state and privately owned Latin American airlines
Socio-Economic Planning Sciences
1994-12-31
Goals of State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and Privately Owned Enterprises (POEs) are here studied along with criteria that these organizations use to evaluate performance.
Depreciation and capital investment decisions: Experimental evidence in a governmental setting
Journal of Accounting and Public Policy
1993-12-31
This study tested the premise that depreciation may serve as a cognitive reminder to decision-makers in governmental organizations of the need to replace long-lived assets as they physically deteriorate.
A fundamental flaw of debt limitations for state and local governments
Journal of Accounting and Public Policy
1984-12-31
Debt limitations, though adopted with the noblest of intentions, have failed to reduce governmental borrowing because of the ease with which they can be circumvented.
Regression analysis as a means of determining audit sample size
Accounting Review
1973-12-31
Often the auditor relies on little more than informed judgment as' to the specific data that he should review.
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