Doug Cerf

Professor Emeritus, Accounting

Contact Information

Office: 03-325
Phone: 805-756-2871
Email dcerf@calpoly.edu

Dr. Cerf is the KPMG Faculty Fellow in Accounting. He is an accounting Professor and former Area Chair of the accounting area. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Cerf served as the interim dean as well associate dean of the Orfalea College of Business for six years and was responsible for undergraduate programs. Dr. Cerf teaches intermediate and advanced accounting courses. Dr. Cerf has been a visiting professor at the following universities: Bren Graduate School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California at Santa Barbara; Copenhagen Business School, and Politecnico di Milano.

Dr. Cerf’s recent research focuses on accounting and financial management to support sustainability, accounting guidance that impacts the public interest, as well as information disclosure on environmental labeling. Recently he co-authored publications in Creating Sustainable Work Systems and the Encyclopedia of Sustainability. His articles have also appeared in the following journals: Issues in Accounting Education, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Professor Practitioner Case Program, Journal of the Academy of Business Education, Journal of Marketing Education, Management Accounting and Managerial Finance.

The Accounting area at Cal Poly offers a number of programs including a bachelor’s degree program in Accounting, a Master of Science in Accounting with an emphasis in taxation and an emphasis in financial accounting, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program and the Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic.

Dr. Cerf received his MS and PhD in economics and accounting respectively from the University of California at Davis. He earned his BS in Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Cerf joined the faculty at Cal Poly in 1990.

Doug enjoys the outdoors especially Lake Tahoe and Yosemite. He is an avid cyclist and swimmer.