Faculty

Nothing excites Garen more than conducting accounting research that has practical implications. In a recent paper of his he examines whether institutional investors, with their large resources, are able to effectively monitor the CEOs of companies. In this respect, if a firm has a number of large pension funds, banks, and investment companies, among its shareholders, Garen shows that this leads to lower profits to insider trades.

Effectively, what this translates to is that large institutions are going to the CEO and saying: “We are closely watching what you are doing with your shares, and we are not going to let you trade profitably because you have private information, at our expense!” And all this makes sense, if CEOs can make a profit at the back of small individual shareholders, then their ability to do likewise with large investors is limited.

Garen Markarian obtained his Doctorate in Accounting from Case Western Reserve University in January 2005. His research interests include executive compensation, corporate governance, and insider trading. During his time as a doctoral student, Garen received first prize in the Deloitte and Touche American Accounting Association State of Ohio Graduate Student Competition, and shared the Best Paper Award in Corporate Finance at the Eastern Finance Regional Meeting. Additionally, Garen's papers have been presented both at the European Accounting Association and American Accounting Association annual meetings, and his work has received mention on FT.com. He has taught financial accounting, accounting theory, and managerial accounting at Case Western Reserve University, Concordia University, and Bocconi University to undergraduate, graduate, executive, and doctoral students. Garen, an avid tennis player, is a fan of one of the Madrid-based football teams (guess!).

Academic Background

• Ph.D. Management, Case Western Reserve University (2005)
• MBA University of Louisiana (1999)
• BS Natural Sciences, American University of Beirut (1996)

Academic Experience

• Lecturer, Case Western Reserve University (2000-2004)
• Assistant Professor, Concordia University (2004-2005)
• Visiting Professor, Bocconi University (2005-2006)