Allen Blay

Department Chair and EY Professor
Allen Blay
Faculty
Location
309 RBA
Phone
850-644-9847
Academic Specialty
Auditing
Education

Ph.D., University of Florida 
M.Acc, University of Florida 
B.S., University of Florida

Areas of Expertise

Auditor Decision Making
Corporate Financial Distress
Auditor Independence

Dr. Allen Blay is the Department Chair and EY Professor in the Department of Accounting at Florida State University’s College of Business. He teaches auditing at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. He also teaches a doctoral seminar in auditing research. Blay has been nominated for both undergraduate and graduate university teaching awards and was named the 2015 Beta Alpha Psi Accounting Professor of the Year. 

Blay serves on the AICPA’s Professional Skepticism Task Force, and from 2012-2015, he sat on the its auditing and attestation subcommittee, which is responsible for the content of the auditing section of the CPA exam. He is a co-author on the Louwers, et al. Auditing and Assurance Services textbook and has written a white paper for professors on introducing data analytics in the auditing classroom. Blay has served on several editorial boards and currently is an associate editor of Issues in Accounting Education

Blay received his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in accounting from the University of Florida. He is also a licensed CPA with a background in auditing financial institutions.

Selected Published Research

Blay, Allen D., Michelle McAllister, and Kathryn Kadous, “Fraud Brainstorming Group Composition in Auditing: The Persuasive Power of a Skeptical Minority,” The Accounting Review, May, 2021, 431-448

Blay, Allen D., Eric Gooden, Mark Mellon, and Doug Stevens, “The Effect of an Auditor Identity Disclosure Requirement on Audit Quality: An Experimental Examination Incorporating the Incremental Effect of a Signature Requirement,” Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, November, 2019, 17-29

Blay, Allen D., Eric Gooden, Mark Mellon, and Doug Stevens, “Can Social Norm Activation Improve Audit Quality? Evidence from an Experimental Audit Market, 2019, Journal of Business Ethics

Blay, Allen D., Eric Gooden, Mark Mellon, and Doug Stevens, “The Usefulness of Social Norm Theory in Empirical Business Ethics Research: A Review and Suggestions for Future Research, 2018, Journal of Business Ethics

Blay, Allen D., and Martin G. Fennema, “Are Accountants Made or Born?  An Analysis of Self-Selection into and Success in the Accounting Major, 2017, Issues in Accounting Education

Blay, Allen D., James R. Moon, Jr., and Jeffrey S. Paterson, “There’s No Place Like Home: The Influence of Home-State Going-Concern Reporting Rates on Going-Concern Opinion Propensity and Accuracy,” Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory, May, 2016, 23-51.

Blay, Allen D., Matthew Notbohm, Caren Schelleman, and Adrian Valencia, “Audit Quality Effects of an Individual Audit Partner Signature Mandate,” International Journal of Auditing, November, 2014, 172-192.

Blay, Allen D., and Marshall A. Geiger, "Auditor Fees and Auditor Independence: Evidence from Going-Concern Opinions," Contemporary Accounting Research, Summer, 2013.

Blay, Allen D., Kathryn Kadous, and Kimberly M. Sawers, "The Impact of Risk and Affect on Information Search Efficiency," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, January, 2012, 80-87.

Blay, Allen D., and Marshall A. Geiger, "The Auditor's Going-concern Opinion as a Communication of Risk," Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, May, 2011, 77-102.

Blay, Allen D., Tim Kizirian, L. Dwight Sneathen, "The Effects of Fraud and Going-concern Risk on Auditors' Assessments of the Risk of Material Misstatement and Resulting Audit Procedures," International Journal of Auditing Vol. 11(3), November, 2007, 149-163.

Alexander, Raquel M., Allen D. Blay, and Kathy Hurtt, "An Examination of Convergent Validity in Internet-based Accounting Research," Behavioral Research in Accounting, Vol. 18, 2006.

Blay, Allen D., "Independence Threats, Litigation Risk, and the Auditor's Decision Process," Contemporary Accounting Research, Vol. 22 N. 4, 759-89, Winter 2005. 

Blay, Allen D., and Marshall A. Geiger, "Market Expectations for First-Time Going-Concern Recipients," Journal of Accounting Auditing and Finance, Vol. 16 N. 3, pp. 209-226, Summer 2001.

Honors and Awards

2013-2014 Florida State University Undergraduate Teaching Award 
2015 Beta Alpha Psi Accounting Professor of the Year
2012 Beta Alpha Psi Business Professional of the Year