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Mary Durkin

  • Assistant Professor
Academic Division: Accounting & Law
Mary Durkin is an Assistant Professor in the Accounting and Law division, and she teaches financial accounting courses. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut and went on to work at Deloitte in the firm’s assurance practice. Professor Durkin is a licensed CPA, and she was selected by the AICPA Foundation as a recipient of the Accounting Doctoral Scholars Fellowship. She received her Ph.D. in accountancy from Bentley University. Prior to joining Babson, Professor Durkin served on the faculty at the University of San Diego, where she taught financial accounting and auditing. Her research interests are in the areas of auditor judgment and decision making and audit reporting, with a focus on promoting professional skepticism and improving auditor-client communications. Her research has been published in several academic journals, including Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, Behavioral Research in Accounting, and the International Journal of Auditing. She has twice received the Center for Audit Quality’s Research Advisory Board grant recognizing the value of her research to the auditing profession. Professor Durkin is a member of the American Accounting Association and has presented her research at international academic accounting conferences.

Academic Degrees

  • Ph D, Bentley University
  • BS, University of Connecticut

Publications

Journal Articles

  • Durkin, M.P., Rose, J.M. (2025). Increasing Attention to Disconfirming Information in the Audit Environment when Time Pressure Promotes Confirmation of Client Assertions. Advances in Accounting. Vol: 69, Issue: December 2025. Elsevier.
  • Durkin, M.P., Jollineau, J., Lyon, S.C. (2025). Misleading the Auditor with Fractional Truths. Behavioral Research in Accounting. Vol: 37, Issue: 1, Page: 59-76. American Accounting Association.
  • Wood, D.A., Durkin, M.P. (2023). The ChatGPT artificial intelligence chatbot: How well does it answer accounting assessment questions?. Issues in Accounting Education. Vol: 38, Issue: 4, Page: 1-28. American Accounting Association.
  • Durkin, M.P., Jollineau, J., Lyon, S.C. (2021). Sounds Good to Me: How Communication Mode and Priming Affect Auditor Performance. Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory. Vol: 40, Issue: 1, Page: 1-17. American Accounting Association. link
  • Durkin, M.P., Rose, J.M., Thibodeau, J.C. (2020). Can Simple Metaphors Be Used as Decision Aids to Promote Professional Skepticism?. Journal of Information Systems. Vol: 34, Issue: 1, Page: 47-60. American Accounting Association.

Book Chapters

  • Jollineau, J., Durkin, M.P. (2018). Understanding and Improving Judgments and Decisions in Accounting: The Routledge Companion to Behavioral Research in Accounting. Page: 37-56. Routledge: Taylor and Francis Group.

Presentations

  • Does the Phrasing of a Client Inquiry Matter? Effects on Client Deception and Relationship Quality Durkin, M. Lyon, S. Jollineau, J. 2025 International Symposium on Audit Research, Singapore, Singapore (2025)
  • Declining Audit Disclosure: Changes in the Reporting of Critical Audit Matters Durkin, M. Calabrese, K. Suslava, K. 2025 Hawaii Accounting Research Conference, Honolulu, HI (2025)
  • Market Reactions to Declining Audit Disclosures Durkin, M. 2024 International Symposium on Audit Research, Boston, MA (2024)
  • Increasing Attention to Disconfirming Information in the Audit Environment when Time Pressure Promotes Confirmation of Client Assertions Durkin, M. Rose, J. Advances in Accounting 2023 Research Conference, Bellingham, WA (2023)
  • Disappearing Audit Disclosure: Changes in the Reporting of Critical Audit Matters Calabrese, K. Durkin, M. Suslava, K. American Accounting Association 2023 Spark Meeting, Virtual (2023)
  • Sounds Good to Me: How Communication Mode and Framing Affect Audit Quality Durkin, M. Jollineau, J. Lyon, S. American Accounting Association 2019 Audit Midyear Meeting, Nashville, TN (2019)
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