Beatrice Michaeli joined the UCLA Anderson faculty in 2014 after completing a Ph.D. in accounting at Columbia Business School.

Her research addresses analytical models in the areas of corporate governance, financial reporting, voluntary disclosure, performance measurement, incentives, and contracting. Beatrice aspires to present the world in neat economic models that allow her to address important practical problems and provide useful recommendations to firms and regulators. Part of her recent work empirically tests the constructed analytical models.

Whereas Michaeli’s research hinges on analytical models, in the classroom she draws from concrete case studies. She encourages students to observe a problematic situation and think of a solution. Sometimes there’s not one super solution; students need to consider under what circumstances one or another option is better. At the very least, Beatrice expects them to learn to ask the right questions, be critical of the default practices often applied in corporations, strive to make better decisions, and apply tools that motivate others to make such decisions.

Bulgarian-born and raised in a family of judges and lawyers, Michaeli initially pursued a law degree in Bulgaria, followed by an advanced law degree in Israel, where she learned Hebrew in six months and embarked on a career in prosecuting white-collar crimes. A change of heart led her to pursue another advanced degree with finance and accounting as major interests.

Beatrice holds an LLM and an MBA from Tel Aviv University, as well as an MSc and a PhD from Columbia University.

She likes to socialize with friends, travel, mentor, swim, run, and practice yoga.