Mikhail Sterin

Associate Professor of Accounting, Department of Accounting Faculty profile

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July–September 2025

Illustration of an auditor pausing with her pen over a report labeled going concern, while a worried executive watches a line of dominoes marked with bank, supplier, customer, and employee icons leading toward a model of his company.

Accounting3 min read

Auditors Hesitate to Warn About Failing Firms When the Warning Itself Could Cause the Failure

A going concern opinion is meant to flag a company at risk of collapse. New evidence shows auditors hold back when the warning is expected to push a client over the edge, and that clients pick auditors with that in mind.

Mikhail Sterin

January–March 2023

Illustration of a nonprofit board meeting over financial reports, with jars of coins in a glass-front cabinet beside them and a busy community center full of families behind them.

Accounting3 min read

Nonprofits With Stronger Boards Hold More Cash, but Donors Punish Excess Reserves

Charities with larger, more independent, and more active boards build bigger cash reserves. But when reserves grow beyond what the organization needs, future donations fall. Donors appear to prefer that their money be spent now.

Mina Pizzini, Mikhail Sterin

Mikhail Sterin

July–September 2025

Auditors Hesitate to Warn About Failing Firms When the Warning Itself Could Cause the Failure

January–March 2023

Nonprofits With Stronger Boards Hold More Cash, but Donors Punish Excess Reserves

One research-backed idea, every Thursday