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S. David Young

Professor of Accounting and Control

Biography

S. David Young is Professor of Accounting & Control at INSEAD, where he has been since 1989. He holds a PhD from the University of Virginia and is both a Certified Public Accountant (USA) and a Chartered Financial Analyst. His primary areas of expertise are corporate financial reporting and value based management, with works published in a wide variety of academic and professional journals, including Harvard Business Review, Journal of Investing and the Journal of Applied Corporate Finance.

Professor Young is the author or co-author of several books, including EVA and Value Based Management: A Practical Guide to Implementation (McGraw-Hill, 2001), Profits You Can Trust: Spotting and Surviving Accounting Landmines (Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2003), and Attracting Investors: A Marketing Approach to Finding Funds for Your Business (John Wiley & Sons, 2004).

Professor Young is also the recipient of several Outstanding Teaching Awards from the INSEAD MBA program, and the Distinguished Alumni Scholar Award from his undergraduate alma mater, The George Washington University. He has consulted extensively for companies in Europe, the U.S. and Asia, mainly on issues related to value based management and financial analysis.

Latest posts

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Economics & Finance

The Growing Menace of Non-GAAP Measures

S. David Young & H. David Sherman

Firms have become increasingly brazen in their use of alternative metrics which cast their financials in a favourable light.

Economics & Finance

KPIs Should Never Be Tied to Compensation

S. David Young & Kevin Kaiser

Monetised indicator targets too often get in the way of value creation.
9 comments

Economics & Finance

How Value Is Destroyed in Acquisitions and Disposals

Boris Liedtke & S. David Young

Corporate incentives are often skewed towards short-term gains at the expense of long-term value.
1 comment

Economics & Finance

Banks Are Passing the Buck in Cost Cutting

Boris Liedtke & S. David Young

Misaligned incentives still reign in the banking industry, turning cost cutting into a hot potato passed around divisions.
2 comments

Economics & Finance

Banks Are Still Thinking Short-Term

Boris Liedtke & S. David Young

A single-minded focus on the bottom line can destroy value.
1 comment