Ben Lansford

Benjamin Lansford is Professor of the Practice in Accounting and Director of the Master of Accounting (MAcc) program at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business within the Business & Economics discipline. Since joining the Rice faculty in 2014, he has taught a range of courses including Financial Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation, Accounting-Based Valuation, Using Financial Statements, Accounting and Auditing Regulation, and Issues in Financial Reporting I in the MBA, MAcc, and undergraduate business programs. Lansford is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in Georgia. He holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from The Pennsylvania State University (2005), a Master of Business Administration from the University of Pittsburgh (2000), and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies, Magna Cum Laude from the Honors College at the University of South Carolina (1997), where he was also inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.

Before entering academia, Lansford served as a Financial Accountant at AMECO, Inc., a subsidiary of the multinational engineering and construction firm Fluor Corporation, in Greenville, South Carolina, from 1997 to 1999. His academic career includes positions as Assistant Professor of Accounting Information and Management at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management (2005-2009) and Assistant Clinical Professor of Accounting and Director of the Integrated Undergraduate-Graduate Master of Accounting Program at The Pennsylvania State University’s Smeal College of Business (2010-2014). Lansford’s research publication is “Causes and Consequences of Disaggregating Earnings Guidance,” co-authored with Baruch Lev and Jenny Tucker, published in the Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, volume 40, issues 1 and 2, pages 26-54 (January/February 2013). He has received numerous teaching awards, including Rice University Undergraduate Award for Teaching Excellence (2024), Rice Graduate Student Association’s Teaching/Mentoring Award (2023), MBA for Professionals Evening Program Award for Teaching Excellence (2019, 2016), Texas Society of CPAs’ Outstanding Accounting Educator Award (2018), Fred Brand, Jr. Teaching Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching (Penn State, 2013), Lester Shonto Award for Excellence in Accounting Education (Penn State, 2013), Faculty Impact Teaching Award (Kellogg, 2009), and Chairs’ Core Course Teaching Award (Kellogg, 2006-2007). At Rice, Lansford serves on the Master of Accounting Committee (2014-present), as Divisional Advisor for the undergraduate business major (2022-present), and previously on the Undergraduate Programs Committee (2015-2018).

Professional Email: lansford@rice.edu