Shivaram Rajgopal - Professor of Accounting at Columbia Business School

Climate Finance Podcast

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Shivaram Rajgopal is the Kester and Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing at Columbia Business School. He has previously held professorship positions at Duke University, Emory University, and the University of Washington.

Dr. Rajgopal´s research is focused on ESG, Governance, Financial Reporting, Valuation, Fraud, Executive Compensation, Short-Termism, Corporate Culture, Technology, and Sovereign Debt/Fiscal Responsibility. He has 200 academic publications and 100+ op-eds on Forbes. Prior to his academic career, he started his professional career at Proctor & Gamble and CitiBank.

Dr. Rajgopal received his Ph.D. in Accounting and Finance from the University of Iowa and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Mumbai. He is also a Chartered Accountant from the Indian Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Topics discussed:

• Dr. Rajgopal´s intellectual evolution from being a Chartered Accountant in India to writing a Doctoral Dissertation on the Commodity Price Risk Exposure of Oil and Gas Producers.

• Early Research Interest: the IPO Boom in the 1990s (Source) and the Enron Scandal (Source).

• Evolution of Reporting:

  • Did Investor Interest In Financial Reporting Peak With Enron? (Source).

  • ESG Is A Response To A Broken Reporting Model (Source)

• Limited Role of the SEC regarding Climate Regulations: The SEC’s Attempt To Write Generally Accepted Climate Principles ( Part 1 & Part 2)

• What If Both Sides Of The ESG Debate Are Right About US Majors’ Oil And Gas Investments, But For The Wrong Reasons? (Source).

• Perspectives on ESG Strategies:

  • Screening: Does ESG Negative Screening Work? (Source).

  • Shareholder Engagements: Big Three (Dis)Engagements (Source).

• ESG Asset Class Perspectives:

  • Private Equity: Does Private Equity Have An ESG Problem? ( Part 1 & Part 2).

  • Green Bonds: Rethinking the Value and Emission Implications of Green Bonds (Source).

  • REITs - Real Estate Investment Trusts:

    • Hotels In Name Only: The Strange Case Of Lodging REITs (Source).

    • The Need For Climate Risk Disclosures: A Case Study Of Physical Risk Of Two REITS, EQR and ARE (Source).

  • (Re)Insurance:

    • A Comparative Analysis Of Incorporating Climate Risk In Underwriting Insurance For AXA Vs. Chubb, Liberty Mutual, And Travelers (Source) and also within their Investment Portfolios (Source).

    • ESG Default Insurance (Source).

• Advice to Future Generations: What Skills Should Finance Students Seek To Acquire In School? (Source)

Note: This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as investment advice. The interview took place on 11th October 2023.