Patrick Badolato is an associate professor of instruction in accounting for The Univesity of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business. He teaches in the Executive, Full-time, Evening, Dallas, and Houston MBA Programs, as well as the MPA, MSF, and MSTC graduate programs.

Badolato teaches “Financial Statement Analysis,” a case-based class that moves away from generic ratios and metrics and toward critical thinking about how financial information can inform decision-making; “Financial Accounting,” which emphasizes the importance of accounting’s thoughtful and logical representation of business events; and “Accounting Concepts and Research,” which offers a deep dive into the business reasons and economic motivations behind accounting standards.

Outside of McCombs, Badolato has been noted in podcast discussions and media mentions for his tax commentary and analyses of Amazon, Whole Foods Market, Dropbox, and Casper. For several years, he served as a consultant and accounting subject matter expert for Harvard Business Publishing, and he helped in the development of Harvard University’s HBX CORe program in financial accounting (now a part of HBS Online). He served in a similar capacity for Wall Street Prep in 2020. Prior to pursuing his Ph.D., Badolato worked in the assurance and tax practices for Ernst and Young.

He earned B.S. degrees in accounting and economics from Villanova University and a Ph.D. in accounting from Duke University. He also holds his CPA license.

Badolato’s research interests center around corporate governance, financial reporting choices, and the use of financial information. His research has been published in the Journal of Accounting and Economics.

Badolato says his attraction to education stems from the unique opportunity to constantly learn from and give back to the greater academic community, his colleagues, and his students.