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Gavin Cassar

Assistant Professor of Accounting


Professor Cassar's research is centered on the role of information, especially financial, in settings of high uncertainty and opacity. In particular, he explores how entrepreneurs and hedge fund managers use information for their decision making needs and contracting with investors.

His research has been published in top-tier accounting, finance, management, and entrepreneurship academic journals including The Accounting Review, Review of Financial Studies, Strategic Management Journal and Journal of Business Venturing. He is an associate editor of the Journal of Business Venturing and on the editorial boards of Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice and Journal of Small Business Management.

Professor Cassar teaches managerial accounting in the MBA program. He is the recipient of several teaching awards including The David W. Hauck Award for Outstanding Teaching. Professor Cassar received his PhD in Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley and his Bachelor of Commerce (with first class honors) from the University of Newcastle, Australia.

Publications
Gavin Cassar, Joseph Gerakos (2011), Hedge Funds: Pricing Controls and the Smoothing of Reported Returns, Review of Financial Studies, 24: 1698-1734.
Gavin Cassar (2011), Discussion of The Value of Financial Statement Verification in Debt Financing: Evidence from Private U.S. Firms, Journal of Accounting Research, 49: 507-528.
Gavin Cassar, Joseph Gerakos (2010), Determinants of Hedge Fund Internal Controls and Fees, The Accounting Review, 85: 1887-1919.
Gavin Cassar (2009), Are Individuals Entering Self-Employment Overly-Optimistic? An Empirical Test of Plans and Projections on Nascent Entrepreneur Expectations, Strategic Management Journal, 31: 822-840.
Gavin Cassar, Henry Friedman (2009), Does Self-Efficacy Affect Entrepreneurial Investment?, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 3: 243-262.

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Current Research
Gavin Cassar, External Financing and Firm Operating Performance
Gavin Cassar, Ken Cavalluzzo, Christopher D. Ittner, Alternative Information Sources and Information Asymmetry Reduction: Evidence from Small Business Debt
Gavin Cassar, Joseph Gerakos, How do Hedge Funds Manage Portfolio Risk?
Gavin Cassar, The Roles of Industry and Startup Experience on Entrepreneur Forecast Performance at New Business Entry

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Knowledge@Wharton
The Big Pay Off: Why Hedge Funds Can't Afford to Ignore Risk Exposure, 12/08/2010, Gavin Cassar
Hedge Fund Clamp-down? Research Says Investors Can Watch Out for Themselves, 07/22/2009, Gavin Cassar
Biased Expectations: Can Accounting Tools Lead to, Rather than Prevent, Executive Mistakes?, 03/19/2008, Gavin Cassar

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PROFESSIONAL SERVICES: Associate editor: Journal of Business Venturing (2009-present)
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES: Editorial board: Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice (2007-present), Journal of Business Venturing (2006-present), Journal of Small Business Management (2006-present)

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Honors And Awards
GARP Risk Management Research Program, 2008
David W. Hauck Award for Outstanding Teaching, 2008
Outstanding Reviewer Award for the Journal of Business Venturing, 2006
AAA Doctoral Consortium Fellow, Lake Tahoe, 2002
Babson-Kauffman Entrepreneurship Doctoral Consortium Fellow, Boulder, 2002

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Cassar Gavin
Gavin Cassar
 1309 Steinberg Hall-Dietrich Hall
3620 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6365
Phone: (215) 898-2023
Fax: (215) 573-2054
cassar@wharton.upenn.edu

Personal Website

Research Interests:
Budgeting and forecasting; entrepreneurship; financing choice and investment; hedge funds; management accounting; risk management