Two Fox School of Business faculty members have been recognized for the impact they have made in the field of accounting.
Sudipta Basu, a professor of accounting and Stanley Merves Chair at Fox, and Wei Wang, associate professor of accounting at Fox, received the inaugural AAA-AACSB-RRBM Award for Research Impacting Societal Challenges at the American Accounting Association Annual Meeting on Aug. 8.
The award recognizes work based on its impact to society for responsible research in accounting — meaning research that produces both useful and credible knowledge addressing problems important to policy-setters, organizations and society.
“For the last couple of years, the accounting profession, and especially accounting academics, have increased attention to how we can make accounting research more relevant to society,” Wang says. “It’s all about how we can make our research translate to the real world.”
Basu and Wang’s award-winning paper, “Walking the Walk? Bank ESG Disclosures and Home Mortgage Lending,” studies the correlation between the ESG scores of commercial banks and their home mortgage lending practices to low-income communities.
Their research suggests banks with higher ESG scores grant fewer home mortgage loans in low-income areas.
Basu, Wang and other academics coined the term “social wash” (a play on the popular term “green wash”) to describe the dynamic in which banks use socially conscious rhetoric and symbolic actions while lending less than competitors to disadvantaged communities.
The findings suggest ESG scores are inaccurate indicators of a bank’s equitable lending practices; for this reason, investors, consumers and policymakers should avoid taking ESG scores at face value.
“When we were told we won, I was absolutely delighted,” Basu says. “It’s amazing to be picked from all these good papers.”
Wang is quick to agree.
“To produce knowledge that generates impact is really the holy grail for me,” Wang says. “This award makes me feel like our work is relevant. We’re not publishing research nobody understands or can relate to, it’s recognized for its potential to be relevant and to have an impact.”
Basu and Wang’s research not only aligns with their personal goals, but also the Fox School’s 2025 Strategic Plan—specifically, in the area of research leadership.
For Basu, who also serves as research director at Fox’s Translational Research Center (TRC), this award is evidence that he’s walking the walk of making research useful and accessible.
“Business school research has traditionally been pretty removed from practice,” he says. “We do all this research, but it often just sits on library shelves.
“The goal of the Translational Research Center at Fox is for research to actually impact the real world — impacting businesses, policymakers, and the community around us.”
“[Our] paper addresses important ethical and policy issues such as redlining of poor neighborhoods by banks, and thus, has societal implications for inequality,” Basu explains.
Elizabeth Gordon, professor and chair of the Department of Accounting at the Fox School, commends Basu and Wang’s achievement.
“This recognition resonates deeply with the Fox School and our Department of Accounting’s commitment to fostering research that addresses societal challenges,” Gordon says. “This award reaffirms the vital role that academic research plays in advancing educational goals and the broader betterment of our society. We are very proud of their contributions and the lasting impact they continue to make.”