Ms Emily Baldock

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Fulbright ANU College of Business and Economics Postgraduate Scholar

Media profile

“Over the last decade the accounting profession has undergone immense scrutiny and consequent change. Governmental intervention and supervision has increased substantially in an international attempt to regulate more rigorously and standardize the accounting profession.”

Ms Emily Baldock, a recent graduate from the University of Louisville, has won the 2011 Fulbright ANU College of Business and Economics Postgraduate Scholarship.

Through her Fulbright, Emily will attend the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia for a year to undertake a comparative analysis of the methods used in Australia and the United States to detect and prevent fraud in each country’s public companies.

“Currently there are two different international standards used for accounting and auditing. The current auditing standards used in the U.S. are enforced through the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board,” Emily said.

“Virtually every other industrialized country, on the other hand, including Australia, uses another set of accounting and auditing standards, which are issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB).”

“These two distinct sets of standards concentrate on different priorities and goals. While the PCAOB focuses on oversight, the IAASB concentrates on developing and enhancing audit standards. A tension has developed among industrialized countries over which set of standards should be utilized.”

Emily’s work aims to shed light on the similarities and differences between the standards, which are more stringent and find out whether there are more incidents in the U.S. or the U.S. method is better at detecting them.

When she returns to the U.S., Emily plans to attend the University of Louisville, Brandeis School of Law and to maintain her interest in a forensic accounting career.

Emily recently graduated from the University of Louisville with a BSBA in accounting and international business. She has won various awards and prizes including the David Calzi Ernst & Young Scholarship, the KYCPA Scholarship, the Institute of Management Accountants' Scholarship 2009, the William F. Mayer Scholarship 2009, a Study Abroad Scholarship 2009, and the 2011 University of Louisville - College of Business Outstanding Graduate. In her spare time, she is active in university groups and enjoys exercising outdoors, playing sports, and reading.