Powers Distinguished Fellow feature: Derek Dalton, professor of accountancy

In recent years, the balance between work and life has become increasingly important in the professional world. Derek Dalton, professor of accountancy at the Wilbur O. and Ann Powers College of Business, studies the relationship between work-life balance and turnover in public accountant roles.

One of his studies provides insights into the impact of pandemic stress and role overload on public accountants, finding that female public accountants experienced an increased amount of stress compared to their male counterparts during the pandemic. Public accounting firms have intentionally tried to increase female partner representation over the decades, but with an increase in female public accountant turnover following the onset of the pandemic, this lack of representation may present a long-term problem for public accounting firms. This paper was recently accepted at Contemporary Accounting Research, a Financial Times Top 50 journal.

In 2021, Dalton was recognized as a Powers Distinguished Fellow for his outstanding work in research, teaching and academic service. His research has won several awards, including the KPMG Best Paper Award from the AAA Gender and Work-life Balance Section in both 2014 and 2015. For the 2024/2025 academic year, he was renewed as a fellow and is looking forward to continuing his research on work-life balance and turnover, focusing on CPA sole proprietors. With prior research focusing more on employees in large firms rather than people in their own firms, Dalton’s research has the potential to shed light on a previously overlooked area of accounting research.

As he progresses in his career, Dalton remains committed to fostering meaningful contributions to both academia and the accounting profession. He says that his time at the Powers College of Business has supported him in his endeavors as a researcher by providing him with avenues to obtain data for his research and present his findings at conferences.

Robin Radtke, the accountancy director, says, “The School of Accountancy is very lucky to have a researcher of Derek’s status. Not only is he recognized internationally as an expert in the gender and work-life balance areas of accounting research, but he is a generous senior scholar who has shared his expertise and worked with multiple junior scholars within our school.”