Joel S. Demski

Joel S. Demski (born 1940) is an American accounting researcher and educator, and Frederick E. Fisher Eminent Scholar at University of Florida, inducted to the Accounting Hall of Fame in 2000.

Life and work Born in Sturgis, Michigan to George and Athalia Demski, Demski moved with his family to Pinconning, Michigan, where he grew up and his father had his own machine shop. He received a BSE in industrial engineering in 1962 from the University of Michigan, and MBA degree with high distinction in 1963. In this MBA program he encountered William A. Paton and took courses from Stephen A. Zeff and Samuel R. Hepworth. In 1967 he obtained his PhD from the University of Chicago.

After graduation Demski started his academic career in 1967 at the Columbia University. The next year in 1968 he moved to Stanford University, where he was appointed Professor of Accountancy. In 1985 he was appointed Professor of Information and Accounting Systems at the Yale University, and in 1994 Scholar in Accounting at the University of Florida.

Selected publications Demski is author of numerous articles and of books including: Demski, Joel S., and Gerald A. Feltham. Cost determination: A conceptual approach. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press, 1976. Demski, Joel S. Information analysis. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1980. Demski, Joel S. Managerial uses of accounting information. Springer, 1994; Second Edition, 2008.

Articles, a selection: Demski, Joel S., and Gerald A. Feltham. "Economic incentives in budgetary control systems." Accounting Review (1978): 336-359. Baiman, Stanley, and Joel S. Demski. "Economically optimal performance evaluation and control systems." Journal of Accounting Research (1980): 184-220. Demski, Joel S., and David Sappington. "Optimal incentive contracts with multiple agents." Journal of Economic Theory 33.1 (1984): 152-171.