Albert Kwame Mensah

Title: Assistant Professor

Years Teaching at HEC: 5 years

Education: City University of Hong Kong (PhD in Accounting), Xiamen University (Master of Management Science in Accounting [with thesis]), University of Cape Coast (Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting & Finance), Institute of Chartered Accountants –Ghana (Certified Public Accountant [CPA])

List of MBA courses you currently teach:

Financial Accounting & Reporting

I knew I wanted to be a business school professor when….

I consistently excelled throughout my business studies. I was a top business student at all levels of education: high school, undergraduate and postgraduate. At high school, I received the awards of Overall Best Accounting Student and Overall Best Business School student (56th Speech and Prize-Giving Day, Mawuli High School, 2006). At my undergraduate studies, I received 3 awards for emerging as the Overall Best Graduating Accounting Student at 2011 Congregation of the University of Cape Coast (The year before graduation, I sat atop the Dean’s List of the business school, where across all departments, I had shared the highest GPA with another). At my postgraduate studies at the City University of Hong Kong, I had received the Outstanding Academic Performance Award (issued by the School of Graduate Studies, 2017), as well as the PhD Student Teaching Excellence Award (issued by the College of Business, 2017).

What are you currently researching and what is the most significant discovery you’ve made from it?

On the back of the recent interest in the influence of activist short sellers in capital markets (see, e.g., extensive media coverage of banks’ exposure to the Adani Group’s alleged fraud), I, together with my coauthors (Jeong-Bon Kim, Simon Fraser University, and Luc Paugam and Herve Stolowy, fellow colleagues here at HEC Paris), have been studying the role of activist short sellers in the syndicated lending market. Activist short sellers, who tend to be hedge funds or individuals, often take short positions in a company’s stock prior to publishing research reports that claim the target firm is overvalued (their reports frequently allege accounting issues and fraud).

In my current study, we aim to provide a large-sample systematic evidence to the question of whether and how stakeholders (such as traditional banks) with better access to firm-specific information learn from activist short seller reports. Based on a sample of 2,426 US public firms spanning 2008 and 2018, we document interesting findings. As far as existing loans are concerned, we find no likelihood that existing loan agreements are renegotiated following allegations by activist short sellers (in fact, our tests seem to suggest that banks were likely already aware of some, if not all, of the issues alleged by activist short sellers).

In regard to new loans, we however find the banks seem to modestly reflect incremental lending risk stemming from activist short seller allegations in loan pricing. Specifically, the effect of a 10 percent increase in cost of debt following activist short seller allegations is modest if compared to the popularly documented evidence of a 50 percent plus increase in cost of debt following SEC-related misreporting allegations.

Overall, our evidence of banks not renegotiating existing loans, but only modestly pricing activist short seller allegations (in subsequent, new loan agreements) suggests that banks do not severely punish firms with activist short seller allegations (this is perhaps so because banks are stakeholders with better access to firm-specific information and as such may already be aware of some, if not all, of the issues alleged by activist short sellers).

If I weren’t a business school professor…

I would most likely be an engineer or perhaps even a visual artist. Growing up (around ages 8-13), I would manually build cars and helicopters, making use of tin- and can-based scraps. I was also good at drawing and sketching. These were great interests of mine at the time, so many who knew me then are today surprised at my pursuit of business education. While I have not pursued any of the above interests anywhere in all formal levels of education, I take consolation in the fact that, at least, some of the entrepreneurial activities I am currently undertaking—3D printer assembly/servicing and STEM—allow me to somewhat pursue some of my earlier-found engineering and visual art interests.

What do you think makes you stand out as a professor?

My deep technical knowledge (of the field) and consistent record of excellence (when I was a student of the field myself), coupled with my past and current professional experience.
One word that describes my first time teaching: Adventurous (mainly because the average age of the class was above my age)

Professor I most admire and why:

Throughout my academic career journey, I have interacted with and (knowingly or unknowingly) picked up a lot from several senior colleagues. These acquired positives are unlimited, but a few that come to mind are: generating novel, interesting and relevant research ideas; effectively testing research predictions via using robust research methods; effectively critiquing a paper; effectively organizing lesson plans; effectively sustaining students’ interest on a course; adopting effective teaching tools and methods; et cetera.

What do you enjoy most about teaching business students?

The ability to, in the classroom, exchange ideas with MBA students (professionals) about what they do at their places of work versus how these relate to issues addressed at course sessions. This is, of course, very different from teaching undergraduate students, who tend to lack professional work experience.

What is most challenging?

Teaching a technical course such as financial accounting/reporting to MBAs requires balancing the competing needs of heterogenous student groups. There is never an easy, straight-forward way of doing this. When introducing, over several weeks, basic accounting concepts and principles to an MBA cohort that is dominated by participants without prior accounting experience (e.g., engineers, pilots, medical workers, marketers, social workers, etc.), one has to find a way to keep the minority (i.e., professional accountants, auditors, and those with advanced knowledge of accounting) still interested in the course.

In one word, describe your favorite type of student:

Hard-working.

What are your hobbies?

Tennis, road trips, and very recently, skiing.

How will you spend your summer?

This summer, I am doing a research visit to Ghana, as well as organizing, through my startup in Ghana, two (2) STEM conferences across the country to showcase state-of-the-art technologies that can be leveraged by students for problem solving.

Favorite place(s) to vacation:

Ski resorts

Favorite book(s):

Owing to my unique background, where I was (during my childhood days) brought up in a rural, mostly Christian district in Ghana that, at the time, neither provided ample opportunities nor instituted the culture of reading non-academic books, I have not really cultivated reading as an interest or hobby. Thus, the only book that I have read the most beyond academic books is the Bible. The Bible has been particularly important in teaching me virtues, which have helped shape who I am today (these virtues were undoubtedly significant to my upbringing, given that I was born out of wedlock and was therefore raised singlehandedly by my maternal grandmother, who did not have much).

What is currently your favorite movie and/or show and what is it about the film or program that you enjoy so much?

Dune. I’ve got to say that the whole thing about protagonists saving the day (despite fierce opposition from antagonists) just sits well with me.

What is your favorite type of music or artist(s) and why?

I am a big fan of Christian music. It is uplifting to the soul, especially in difficult times when one needs all the encouragement one can get. I also love classical music: it is soothing.

If I had my way, the business school of the future would have much more of this…

Certain popular concepts taught in business schools should not be necessarily promoted as “universal,” but should be adapted to the specific needs of each jurisdiction. I find that some recommended solutions, tools or ideas advanced in business schools that may work in developed nations may not necessarily work in some developing nations. For instance, the common concept that business entities automatically collect indirect taxes (such as VAT and sales taxes) on behalf of government and then later refund it to the government may not work in many developing countries in particular. This is because the high incidence of inter-entity and inter-citizen corruption, coupled with potential collusion between business entities (citizens) and public officials, introduces significant frictions that lead to leakages in government coffers.

I would therefore like to see business schools rise to the challenge in the future in using or increasing their existing research infrastructure in studying the needs of specific countries or regions in order to allow them to more effectively develop custom-tailored solutions or tools for such jurisdictions.

In my opinion, companies, and organizations today need to do a better job at…

Utilizing existing academic research insights and findings to help them address problems at their outfits. Several business schools have dedicated research budgets to investigating interesting and relevant economic phenomena, but it appears there is not much use of these research findings by corporates. Perhaps the problem lies in companies’ lack of awareness of such research, because they are not well informed about publication outlets where research is published. It would therefore serve organizations well to more closely align themselves with business schools. Such close ties could for instance lead to companies specifically requesting research assistance from or research collaboration with business schools in investigating specific problems or issues that these companies are currently facing. I find that, at least when it comes to seeking research assistance or collaboration, business school researchers tend to approach corporates more often than such corporates approach business schools.

I’m grateful for…

The opportunity to teach on the MBA and to conduct research at one of the world’s leading business schools. This was made possible by the many who have played such important roles in my journey thus far. From my childhood days, through to my academic studies and then to my present time here at HEC, I want to say a big “thank you” to my family, friends, mentors, senior colleagues and sponsors for their respective roles and support.