Michael Kraten, PhD, CPA specializes in the development of business strategies that generate long term sustainable value. In Michael’s words:
I specialize in the analysis of business opportunities and risks with complex factors and highly uncertain outcomes.
I am the Director of Accounting Program Initiatives at the University of Houston, where I design and teach Sustainability / ESG content. In this role, I also design and support programs that address the “pipeline” challenge of attracting students to the Accounting profession.
I began my career in the assurance and consulting practices of Deloitte. After serving as a Consulting Partner at BDO, then the sixth largest global accounting firm, I co-founded a series of boutique management consulting practices. I maintain functional specialties in valuation, enterprise risk management, business modeling, decision analysis, forensic analysis, educational gaming, and strategic planning.
My innovative approach to ESG / Sustainability, as codified in my award-winning business case and educational game “Save The Blue Frog,” involves the integration of strategic, operating, and financial practices while balancing economic outcomes with social and environmental considerations. I continue to develop customized versions of “Save The Blue Frog,” including a Texan version called “Save The Bats.”
I previously served as Professor of Accounting at Houston Baptist University, where I designed and taught courses in entrepreneurship, ESG accounting, and other advanced accounting topics. I also served as Chair of Accounting, Economics, and Finance programs there.
Earlier in my career, I taught at Providence College, Sacred Heart University, Suffolk University, and the Universities of Connecticut and Massachusetts in the U.S. and at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. I have also presented my work at Dartmouth College, Harvard Law School, Johns Hopkins University, Yale University, and other institutions.
I authored or co-authored thirty peer reviewed articles in the Journal of Banking and Finance, the International Journal of Accounting, Research in Accounting Regulation, the CPA Journal, the Journal of Financial Planning, Accounting and the Public Interest, and elsewhere. I authored more than five hundred blog posts and numerous book chapters, newsletters, and podcasts for Wiley, Routledge, Henry Stewart, Kaplan, and other publishers. I also authored a book on Business Planning and Entrepreneurship for Business Expert Press.
Since 2014, the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) has ranked me in the All-Time Top 10% of global researchers. My top-ranked article, entitled “Libor Manipulation,” was published several months before the global banking scandal exploded in the public business press.
I serve on the Board of Directors of TXCPA Houston, the Leadership Council of the TXCPA, the Editorial Advisory Board of the CPA Journal, and the Advisory Board of the Center for Professional Accounting Practices at Fordham University.
I earned a PhD in Behavioral Accounting from the University of Connecticut and a MPPM in Public and Private Management from Yale University. I also earned a BBA in Public Accounting from Baruch College, CUNY. I am licensed as a Certified Public Accountant.