W. Steve Albrecht
W. Steve Albrecht is the Andersen Alumni Professor of Accountancy in the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University. Dr. Albrecht, a certified public accountant (CPA), certified internal auditor (CIA), and certified fraud examiner (CFE), came to BYU in 1977 after teaching at Stanford and at the University of Illinois. Earlier, he worked as a staff accountant for Deloitte & Touche. Until July 1, 2008, he was the associate dean of the Marriott School, a position he held for 10 years. For the previous nine years, Dr. Albrecht was director of the School of Accountancy at BYU.
Dr. Albrecht received a bachelor's degree in accounting from Brigham Young University and his MBA and PhD degrees from the University of Wisconsin. He is past President of the American Accounting Association, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, Beta Alpha Psi and the Accounting Program Leadership Group. Until recently, he served as the U.S. representative on the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) Education Committee and as a trustee of the Financial Accounting Foundation. Dr. Albrecht has done extensive research on business fraud and ethics. His research has resulted in the publication of over one hundred articles in professional and academic journals. He is the author or co-author of 20 books or monographs. In 2000, he completed a major study (Accounting Education: Charting the Course through a Perilous Future) on the future of accounting education in the U.S.
Dr. Albrecht has received numerous awards and honors, including BYU's highest faculty honor, the Karl G. Maeser Distinguished Faculty Lecturer Award, for superior scholarship and teaching. He has also received the BYU School of Management's Outstanding Faculty Award. He has been recognized by Beta Alpha Psi, the Federation of Schools of Accountancy, the Auditing Section of the American Accounting Association, the Utah Association of CPAs and the AICPA as Educator of the Year. He also received awards for outstanding teaching at Stanford University, the University of Illinois, and the University of Wisconsin. In 1997, 2001, 2002 and 2003, and 2004 he was chosen as one of the 100 most influential accounting professionals in the United States by Accounting Today magazine. In 1998, he received the Cressey Award from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the highest award given for a lifetime of achievement in fraud detection and deterrence. In 2002, in honor of his contribution in fighting fraud, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners named one of its headquarter buildings in Austin, Texas after Dr. Albrecht. In 2001, in recognition of his contributions to BYU and to academia, an anonymous donor endowed the W. Steve Albrecht Professorship in Accounting and the LeAnn Albrecht fellowship in accounting.
Dr. Albrecht has consulted with numerous organizations, including Fortune 500 companies, major financial institutions, the United Nations, FBI, and other organizations, and has been an expert witness in over 35 major fraud cases. Dr. Albrecht is married to the former LeAnn Christiansen and they have six children and twenty-two grandchildren.