Rate My Professor Brian Bratten

Brian Bratten is the Carol Martin Gatton Endowed Chaired Professor of Accountancy in the Gatton College of Business and Economics at the University of Kentucky. He joined the faculty in 2009 after earning his PhD in Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin. Bratten also holds a Master of Science in Finance and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from Texas A&M University, both in 2001, and is a Certified Public Accountant. Prior to doctoral studies, he worked as a Senior Associate at KPMG LLP auditing companies primarily in the financial services industry. His career at the University of Kentucky includes progression from Assistant Professor (2009–2016) to Associate Professor (2016–2019) and Professor (2019–present). He has served in leadership roles such as Director of the Von Allmen School of Accountancy (2021–2025), Director of Graduate Studies for the PhD program in Accounting (2018–2021), Acting Director of Graduate Studies (Spring 2024), and currently Director of the Graduate Certificate in Taxation (2024–present). Bratten was a Visiting Scholar at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business in Spring 2018.

Bratten’s research focuses on financial accounting and auditing topics, including analysts’ forecasts, earnings management, executive compensation, fair value accounting, fundamental analysis, and the information content of GAAP and non-GAAP disclosures. His publications appear in leading journals such as Journal of Accounting and Economics, Contemporary Accounting Research, Management Science, The Accounting Review, Review of Accounting Studies, and Accounting, Organizations and Society. Select publications include “Mandatory Disclosures and Opportunism: Evidence from Repurchases” (Journal of Accounting and Economics, 2025), “On the Informativeness of Unexpected Exclusions from Street Earnings” (Contemporary Accounting Research, 2024), “Filling in the GAAPs in Individual Analysts’ Street Earnings Forecasts” (Management Science, 2023), “Audit Firm Tenure, Bank Complexity, and Financial Reporting Quality” (Contemporary Accounting Research, 2019), and “Forecasting Taxes: New Evidence from Analysts” (The Accounting Review, 2017). He has received the AAA Auditing Section Best Conference Paper Award (2019), Journal of the American Taxation Association Outstanding Paper Award (2017), Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory Best Paper Award (2015), and the inaugural Gatton College Research Excellence Award for Productivity (2017). Bratten’s work has been cited by the SEC and PCAOB in regulatory rules and serves on the editorial board of Accounting Horizons.