S.P. Kothari is Gordon Y Billard Professor of Accounting and Finance at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Professor Kothari has senior executive experience in government, academia, and industry with expertise in strategic and policy issues, securities regulation, auditing, and corporate governance. Most recently, he served as Chief Economist and Director of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis at the US Securities and Exchange Commission from 2019 to 2021.

In academia, Kothari was Deputy Dean of MIT Sloan School of Management (2010-15), and previously headed the Department of Economics, Finance and Accounting at MIT Sloan. In addition, he Co-Chaired the Board of Governors of Asia School of Business, Kuala Lumpur, served as faculty director of the MIT-India Program, and edited the world-renowned academic publication Journal of Accounting & Economics.

In 2008-09, Kothari was global head of equity research for Barclays Global Investors (acquired by BlackRock). The actively managed equity portfolio had in excess of $100 billion in assets, and the research team was comprised of approximately 50 PhDs based in San Francisco, London, and Sydney. Kothari served as a director of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) (2015-19); currently he serves on the boards of Velan Studios and EbixCash; and he has consulted extensively on valuation and reporting, corporate governance, risk management, auditing, and management compensation. 

Kothari is a recipient of numerous awards for his scholarship, including India’s Padma Shri award in 2020, Honorary Doctorates from London Business School, University of Cyprus, and University of Technology, Sydney, and the American Accounting Association’s Distinguished Contributions to the Accounting Literature award.  

Kothari received his BS in engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology & Science and his MBA (PGDM) from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.He earned his PhD from the University of Iowa.