Some Talents Travel Widely, Then Return. Like Claudia Imperatore

NAPLES, PADUA, MADRID, CHICAGO. THE UNIVERSITIES SHE ATTENDED SPEAK THREE DIFFERENT LANGUAGES AND SHE IS NOW A NEW ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ACCOUNTING

When she thinks of herself ten years ago, Claudia Imperatore, the new entry in the Department of Accounting, she’s still amazed at her professional career: “The only reason I didn’t attend Bocconi was because, in my time, when I was starting university, it seemed too big for me,” she says. “I was born in Caserta and it was the first time leaving home, so maybe I didn’t feel ready. The idea of moving away from my family and going to Milan seemed unimaginable.”

Instead, Imperatore went very far, in the true sense of the word. After her Bachelor in Business Economics at the Seconda Università degli Studi in Naples and a Master of Science at the Università di Padova in Accounting, Financial Management and Control, both cum laude, she began her career overseas. “In 2011, I left for Spain for a PhD in Financial Accounting at the IE Business School and, after 3 years outside Italy, I left Europe to go to the University of Chicago, where I was a Visiting PhD student,” she says. “All these experiences allowed me to discover a love for traveling and visiting new places. In particular, in the US I discovered my love for home cooking.”

But after 5 years abroad, Imperatore felt the need to come back to Italy, to Bocconi in particular, where she's now working as an Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Accounting. “I chose this university for different reasons, including my interest in family firms, a subject that Bocconi has placed a lot of attention on.” In addition to family firms, her research focuses on earnings management and corporate disclosure, subjects that she has examined in various works published in several leading international journals, such as the Journal of Accounting and Public Policy and the European Accounting Review. “Research is my passion, but when I can get away, I go skiing and in the summer I read a lot, and, if possible, not just about economics.”

by Benedetta Ciotto
Translated by Richard Greenslade