Michael Kraten specializes in the analysis of business opportunities and risks with complex factors and highly uncertain outcomes.
He is the Director of Accounting Program Initiatives at the University of Houston, where he designs and teaches Sustainability / ESG content. In this role, Michael also designed and supported programs that address the “pipeline” challenge of attracting students to the accounting profession.
Michael began his career in the assurance and consulting practices of Deloitte. After serving as a Consulting Partner at BDO, then the sixth largest global accounting firm, he co-founded a series of boutique management consulting practices. He maintains functional specialties in valuation, enterprise risk management, business modeling, decision analysis, forensic analysis, educational gaming, and strategic planning.
Michael’s innovative approach to ESG / Sustainability, as codified in his award-winning business case and educational game “Save The Blue Frog,” involves the integration of strategic, operating, and financial practices while balancing economic outcomes with social and environmental considerations. Michael continues to develop customized versions of “Save The Blue Frog,” including a Texan version called “Save The Bats.”
Michael previously served as Professor of Accounting at Houston Baptist University, where he designed and taught courses in entrepreneurship, ESG accounting, and other advanced accounting topics. He also served as Chair of Accounting, Economics, and Finance programs there.
Earlier in his career, Michael taught at Providence College, Sacred Heart University, Suffolk University, and the Universities of Connecticut and Massachusetts in the U.S. and at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. He has also presented his work at Dartmouth College, Harvard Law School, Johns Hopkins University, Yale University, and other institutions.
Michael authored or co-authored more than thirty peer reviewed articles in the Journal of Banking and Finance, the International Journal of Accounting, Research in Accounting Regulation, the CPA Journal, the Journal of Financial Planning, Accounting and the Public Interest, and elsewhere. He has authored more than five hundred blog posts and numerous book chapters, newsletters, and podcasts for Wiley, Routledge, Henry Stewart, Kaplan, and other publishers. He also authored a book on Business Planning and Entrepreneurship for Business Expert Press.
From 2014 to 2023, the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) ranked Michael in the All-Time Top 10% of global researchers. His top-ranked article, entitled “Libor Manipulation,” was published several months before the global banking scandal exploded in the public business press.
Michael served on the Board of Directors of TXCPA Houston, the Leadership Council of the TXCPA, the Editorial Advisory Board of the CPA Journal, and the Advisory Board of the Center for Professional Accounting Practices at Fordham University.
Michael earned a PhD in Behavioral Accounting from the University of Connecticut and a MPPM in Public and Private Management from Yale University. He also earned a BBA in Public Accounting from Baruch College, CUNY. Michael is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant.