University of Albany's Ingrid Fisher Develops Pioneering Software

Ingrid Fisher's software acts like a time machine. It's a time machine for the complex world of accounting standards, and enormously successful in that world. Had it been available, for example, during the Enron trials, it could have precisely determined the standards that applied at the time and potentially saved the court system -- and taxpayers -- many hours of ambiguous testimony and, well, wasted time.

"It's the first and only piece of software that can support the codification of Financial Accounting Standards on demand," said Fisher, an assistant professor of accounting in the School of Business. "It actually supports the reconstruction of a specific standard, with applicable amendments, at any user-determined point in time. So it can be used in legal determinations or cases where the issue is litigated many years after the transactions in question."

The software has the ability to quietly revolutionize a corner of the fastidious world of corporate accounting, and Fisher is quickly becoming a leading light in that world.

Fisher's UAlbany education gave her: "the skills to succeed in the workplace and the confidence to effectively use...these throughout my life and career."

Ingrid Fisher Fisher, who calls herself a "true UAlbany product," earned her undergraduate degree in psychology, a master's in accounting, and doctorate in information science, all from the University. She credits her own teachers with her success and drive.

In graduate school Fisher was influenced by Professor Enrico Petri, who, clearly bucking the business school image, gave cha-cha lessons between classes. Then it was the "incessant, relentless prodding" of Professor Jagdish Gangolly encouraging her to enroll in the doctoral program in information studies. The combination of accounting and IT engaged her, and Gangolly became her dissertation adviser.

It was in writing her dissertation that she developed the stand-alone software for amending Financial Accounting Standards.

Another stream of Fisher's research is focused on the analysis of comment letters that are sent by stakeholders to the Financial Accounting Standards Board prior to a new standard being promulgated. Jake Roy, a freshman, did some of the analysis and coding, reading individual comment letters and recording relevant characteristics, as did Samantha Williams, a graduate student who completed her degree in December 2007.

Fisher attributes her education at UAlbany to giving her "the ability to be thoughtful and considered in my endeavors, the appreciation of diverse points of view, the skills to succeed in the workplace and the confidence to effectively use all of these throughout my life and career."

By Greta Petry