David Lont BCom(Hons), PhD, CA

Senior Lecturer

B.Com(Hons), PhD, CA
SSRN author page: www.ssrn.com/author=11269

David Lont is a senior lecturer in the Department of Accountancy and Business Law at the University of Otago. He has been a member of the department since 1989. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of New Zealand and is currently a committee member for the Otago Branch and serves on the Institute's Corporate Annual Report Awards, Phd Scholarship and Publications committees. He has served on a number of University of Otago committees, and is currently a member of the University's senate, the School of Business Post graduate advisory board and a councillor for Hayward College.

His current research interests are primarily in capital markets, and the economics of financial reporting and auditing. He co-teaches a third year accounting paper on financial statement analysis (ACCT310), and a 4th year course in Empirical Issues in Accounting Research and Corporate Governance. He has also taught the financial accounting module for the University of Otago MBA and has been a visiting research professor at the University of California, Davis several times since 2002. He also taught on their highly ranked (top 50) MBA programme and undergraduate courses in 2002 and 2003.

He has presented papers at a number of high profile conferences including the American Accounting Association national conference, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand (AFAANZ) annual conference, and plenary sessions at Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics annual conference in Malaysia (2004) and Hong Kong (2008). He has published papers in Accounting Forum, Asia Pacific Journal of Accounting and Economics, Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, the Chartered Accountants Journal of New Zealand, the Journal of Accounting Education, the New Zealand Investment Analyst, and Pacific Accounting Review. He has reviewed articles for a number of journals including Abacus, Accounting Education, Accounting and Finance, British Accounting Review, Pacific Accounting Review, New Zealand Journal of Applied Business Research, and the University of Auckland Business Review. He is on the editorial board of Pacific Accounting Review (PAR) and is also one its trustee. He is a guest editor for a special issue of PAR examining the impact of international accounting standards (due for publication in 2010). He continues to chair the technical committee for financial accounting papers for AFAANZ annual conference. He has recently been elected to the executive board of AFAANZ.

Working Papers

Griffin , P.A., Lont, D.H., and Y. Sun, Agency Problems and Audit Fees: Further Tests of the Free Cash Flow Hypothesis, American Accounting Association Annual Conference, August 2007 and Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand Conference, July 2007. (http://www.afaanz.org/openconf/afaanz/papers.php)

Griffin , P.A., Lont, D.H., and B. Segal, Regulation Fair Disclosure: An Analysis of SEC Enforcement Actions, 10th Annual New Zealand Finance Colloquium, Otago, January 2006 (ISSN 1175-074) and Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand Conference, July 2006 (http://www.afaanz.org/afaanz_2006_papers.htm).

Griffin , P.A., and D.H. Lont, The Effects of Auditor Dismissals and Resignations on Audit Fees: Evidence Based on SEC Disclosures Under Sarbanes-Oxley (Stanford, CA Summer Camp (August 2005), and XVII Asian Pacific Conference on International Accounting Issues, Wellington, New Zealand , (November 20-23, 2005) (quality assured). Plenary paper at the Tel Aviv Conference in Accounting, The Leon Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration (June 2008)

Recent Publications include

Griffin, P.A., Lont, D.H. and Y. Sun, Corporate Governance and Audit Fees: Evidence of Countervailing Relations, Journal of Contemporary Accounting & Economics, Vol 4, No 1 (June 2008), pp. 18-49.
Presented at Centre for Corporate Reporting and Governance Conference, Irvine, California, September 2007, the Fifth Annual Australasian Audit Research Forum, ANU, November 2007 and Joint Symposium Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics; and Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, Hong Kong, January 2008.

Griffin, P.A., Lont, D.H., An Analysis of Audit Fees Following the Passage of Sarbanes-Oxley, Asia Pacific Journal of Accounting and Economics, Vol 14 (2), (August 2007), pp.161-192.

Lont, D.H, and Y. Sun, “Preliminary announcements mostly made soon after audit”, Chartered Accountants Journal, March 2007, pp. 49-50.

Lont, D.H, and Y. Sun, “The Timeliness of Full-year and Half-yearly Reports for New Zealand Companies 2004-2006”, Chartered Accountants Journal, February 2007.

Lont, D.H, and Y. Sun, “Timeliness of NZ Companies’ Preliminary Earnings Announcements, Chartered Accountants Journal, December 2006, pp. 61-64.

Lont, D.H. and P. Humphrey, A Variance-Ratio Test of the Random Walk Hypothesis for the New Zealand Share Market: 1980-2001, Pacific Accounting Review (Dec 2005), Vol 17, No 2, pp 54-73.

Griffin, P.A., and D.H. Lont, Taking the Oath: Investor Response to SEC Certification Under Sarbanes-Oxley", Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics (June 2005), pp 23-63.

Lont, D., L. Rodgers, A, MacGregor, A Taxing Time, Chartered Accountants Journal, (December, 2004), Vol 83, No 11, pp. 54-55.


Lont, D., and L. Rodgers, “How have Companies fared?, NZX Reporting Requirement”, Chartered Accountants Journal, (February 2004), Vol 83, No 1, pp. 59-61.


Lont, D., Rodgers, L., and D. Seng. “The Timeliness of Preliminary Earnings Announcements of New Zealand Companies 1998-2002”, Chartered Accountants Journal, pp. 66-68 (December 2003).

Lont, D., “Financial Reporting on the Internet”, Chartered Accountants Journal, (August 2003), pp. 63-65 (3 pages)
Lont, D., “Unspecified Operating Expense Disclosure Requirements in New Zealand”, Has FRS 9 Made a Difference, Pacific Accounting Review, (December 2002), Vol 14, 2, pp. 57-95.

Etebari, A., and D. Lont., “Monthly And Daily Patterns In Equity Returns: New Zealand Evidence”, The New Zealand Investment Analyst, (October 2001), pp. 13-17.

MacDonald, R, and D. Lont, “Financial Reporting on the World Wide Web: A 2001 Review”, Chartered Accountants Journal, (September 2001), pp. 64-68.

Dow, R., J. Tomkins, J., and D. Lont, “The Intangibles Debate”, Chartered Accountants Journal, (July 2001), pp 74-76.

Lont, D., and G. Heaton, “Losing Touch with Reality”, Chartered Accountants Journal, (October 1999), pp 68-70.

Lont, D., “Using an Intranet to Facilitate Student Centred Learning”, Journal of Accounting Education, Vol 17-2, (1999), pp 293-320.

Lont, D., “Integrating Information Technology into Accounting”, Chartered Accountants Journal, pp. 34-37, (February, 1998).

Lont, D., “An Examination of Requirements for Disclosure of Unspecified Operating Expenses in New Zealand”, Accounting Forum, Vol 21 No 2, pp. 149-173, (September 1997).

Student Consultation Hours

Appointment by email

Contact Details

Room: Commerce 4.08
Telephone: (03) 479 8119
Email: dlont@business.otago.ac.nz
Fax: +64 3 4798450
SSRN author page: www.ssrn.com/author=11269