Vidya Awasthi, PhD, CFM, CMA, CPA

Associate Professor

PhD, Managerial Accounting, University of WA
MBA, California State University, Fresno,
MA, Political Science, Meerut University
BS, Biology, Meerut University

Phone: 206.296.5628

Office: Pigott 500

Email: vawasthi@seattleu.edu

Department: Accounting

Web Address: http://fac-staff.seattleu.edu/vawasthi

Teaching Areas: Cost Accounting, Management Accounting, Strategic Cost Management

In the News:

Vidya N. Awasthi, associate professor of accounting, recently presented a lecture entitled, “The “Ethics for Success” at the Bellevue chapter meeting of the Institute Management Accountants. 

- Broadway Madison 
May 25, 2004 

Professional Biography:

Vidya N. Awasthi is an Associate Professor in the Accounting Department. He received an M.A. (1976) from Meerut University (India); an MBA (1984) from California State University, Fresno; and his Ph.D. (1988) from the University of Washington. Prior to joining the Seattle University faculty in 1996, Awasthi taught at Santa Clara University (1988-1996), University of Washington (1984-1988) and served as an officer with the State bank of India (1976-1982).

His articles have appeared in the Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Education, International Journal of Accounting, Management Accounting Research, and several professional journals. He has presented or published his work in the US, Australia, Canada, China, Switzerland, Taiwan and United Kingdom.

Personal Interests: "Whatever spare time I get, I spend with my wife and children."

Service Activities:

Administrative:
ASBE Dean Search Committee 2000, Member
Chair, Teaching and Research Committee, 1999-2000
Member, Colleagues 
Member, Faculty Senate, Seattle University, 1997-1999.
Member, ASBE Research Committee (1997-1999) and ASBE Teaching Committee (1997-1999)

Community:
Convenor of American Paathshala, a Sunday school for children of families from India. 

Awards: 

Outstanding Paper Award by Western Region American Accounting Association, 1999.
ASBE Faculty Research Award 1998 
MBA Teacher of the Year 1992, Santa Clara University.
Fellow of the American Accounting Association Doctoral Consortium (1987)
Dean's Award for Originality and Excellence of Performance, CSU, Fresno (1984)
Distinguished International Graduate Award, CSU, Fresno (1984)

Professional Activities: 

Member of American Accounting Association and the Institute of Management Accountants

Research Interests: 

International culture and management control systems, Cost management, Accounting and Ethics

Current Projects: 

Escalation of Commitment to Failing Projects: Exploring the Phenomenon, Its causes, and Remedies in Vietnamese Business Enterprises

Information Technology's Impact On Manufacturing Performance: A Case for Classroom Teaching

All About...

Joining Seattle University is a coming together of many food things for me. First, I am excited about being at a university which proudly declares teaching as its main priority and then has the commitment to follow it up. Faculty, staff, and students I have met thus far are just wonderful, and I look forward to working with them in the coming years.

Second, when I left Seattle after graduating fro the University of Washington, I wished I could come back - and now I have! Although Seattle has changed during the last eight years, it is one of the best cities in the world. I'm happy that I'll be able to raise my family in a city of natural beauty and friendly folks. We moved here this summer so that my wife, Punita, and my kids, Isha and Varun, could see Seattle at its best. They love it. Will they still like Seattle after winter is over? Hopefully, they will be too busy by then to notice minor weather irritations.

In teaching, my first love is management accounting. Managements accounting tells you how to use accounting information to better manage businesses. There are, I believe, two types of people in business: accountants and those who pay them. Whichever group you belong to, you cannot succeed log without accounting.

I like to tell students, "I cannot reward you enough for knowing management accounting, and I cannot punish you enough for not knowing it- but the real world does."

In research, my area is management control. Currently I'm investigation how some cultural aspects of employees, such as individualism-collectivism, affect performance evaluation and incentive plans in organizations. These attributes become part of the mental programming we develop while growing up as members of a group. This research is significant as U.S. companies keep expanding globally, and as they tend to import management practices from overseas. Another line of my interest is cost management in health care institutions.

My recent achievement? Last year, I got my CMA (certified management accountant) certificate, and cleared all parts of the CPA exam. I also bought a house in the Seattle area, which seems more difficult than the other two accomplishments I've listed. 

Latest book read outside accounting? Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss. That was for my almost three-year-old ("I'm big") son. I am also reading a book on dinosaurs with my six-year-old daughter. She is already asking me some hard-hitting questions such as: "Doctors of people I know, but what do doctors of accounting do?" Together, my children keep my wife and me busy and teach us a lot about life.

Article in The Seattle University Accountant, Winter 1997, No. 12