Joseph Lakatos

Title
Professor
Email
Department
Accounting, Economics, Finance & Information Sciences
College
College of Business

Office Hours

Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays: 10-11:30 a.m., 1:45-2:45 p.m.

Areas of Expertise

Corporate Taxation, Fraud Examination and Prevention, Forensic Accounting, Commercial Law, and Securities Regulation 

Dr. Lakatos has over 35 years of combined experience as an attorney, certified public accountant, certified fraud examiner, risk manager, business advisor and professor. His subject matter expertise in forensic accounting, fraud detection and prevention, risk management and securities litigation originates from his career experiences as an auditor for Price Waterhouse Coopers LLP (PwC) and as an attorney in a Manhattan law firm. As an auditor at PwC in New York City, Dr. Lakatos served on engagement teams spanning several industries, including financial services, oil and gas, transportation, entertainment, biotechnology and retail. He also served on the team assigned to investigate the junk bond fraud scandal orchestrated by Michael Milken at Drexel Burnham Lambert. 

During his tenure at a Manhattan law firm, Dr. Lakatos was in the throws of the legal resolution of the Savings & Loan Crisis, which involved over 4,000 litigation proceedings against the big accounting firms. During his career, Dr. Lakatos has observed the widespread impact of accounting and corporate malfeasance and the lapse of ethics in the poor decisions made by directors, officers, auditors and attorneys. He has also witnessed the direct effect of accounting malfeasance and other unethical behavior on legislative action. This led him to become a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE).

While serving as a risk manager in the financial services industry, Dr. Lakatos taught as an adjunct professor and fell in love with teaching. Wanting to empower students with the ability to dissect real-world scenarios and soundly reach resolutions of complex problems, Dr. Lakatos became a professor specializing in forensic accounting, financial and managerial accounting, business ethics, corporate finance, entrepreneurship, commercial law and entity taxation. He previously served as the Elingburg Distinguished Professor of Business Innovation and Director of a Center of Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Western Carolina University. Dr. Lakatos provides advisory services focused on the development and implementation of enterprise risk management programs, including ethics code of conduct, internal control systems, financial reporting structures and tax compliance functions.  In this capacity, Dr. Lakatos has detected operational and financial statement frauds and tax evasion schemes and structures. Over the past decade, Dr. Lakatos has annually presented at professional conferences focusing on trending areas in artificial intelligence, data analytics, forensic accounting and corporate taxation and their impact on corporate behavior and society.

  • LL.M. - Master of Laws in Taxation, University of Denver
  • LL.M. - Master of Laws in Banking, Boston University
  • J.D. - Juris Doctor (Doctor of Jurisprudence), St. John's University-New York
  • M.B.A. - Master of Business Administration in Finance, St. John's University-New York
  • B.B.A. - Bachelor of Business Administration in Accountancy, University of Notre Dame
  • BA 225: Business Law
  • BA 318: Entrepreneurship I
  • FIN 334: Investment Analysis
  • BA 399: Special Topics in Management
Auditing, Business Law & Ethics, Commercial Law, Corporate Finance, Corporate Taxation, Forensic Accounting, Investment Analysis, and Securities Regulation  

Lakatos, J., & Knight, R. (in press, 2024).  Choosing the Best Entity for Investments Trading After Understanding the Tax Limitations and Restrictions.   DePaul Business and Commercial Law Journal.

Lakatos, J., Knight, R., & Rogers, S. (2022).  Cristofani Trusts - An Overlooked Estate Planning Technique. Estate Planning Journal.

Shoulders, C., & Lakatos, J. (2021).  The Financial Statement Impact of the GASB's Majority Equity Interest Standard. CPA Journal.

Lakatos, J., & Shoulders, C. (2020).  Closing the Fraud Prevention Canyon with Counteractive Control Development. CPA Journal.

Shoulders, C., & Lakatos, J. (2019).  Mastering Fiduciary Activity Reporting for Governments: GASB Statement 84.  CPA Journal.

Lakatos, J., Shoulders, C., & Davidson, B. (2018).  Enhanced Therapeutics: Leading a Drug Candidate through the Challenges of the FDA's Approval Process.   Applied Management Journal.

Academic

Professor, David B. O'Maley College of Business, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University (2024 - Present), Daytona Beach, Florida.

Professor, University of North Carolina (2018 - 2021), Pembroke, North Carolina.

Professor, Western Carolina University (2013 - 2018), Cullowhee, North Carolina.  Elingburg Distinguished Professor of Business Innovation and Director of the Center of Entrepreneurship, and Regional Business Advisor, Small Business Technology Development Center

Associate Professor, University of North Carolina (2008 - 2013), Pembroke, North Carolina.

Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina (2003 - 2008), Pembroke, North Carolina.

Adjunct, Boston College School of Law and Warren E. Carroll Graduate School of Business (1997 - 2003), Boston, Massachusetts.

Non-Academic

Executive Director of Risk Management & Business Development, Shoulders Group, LLP (2011 - 2023), Raleigh, NC

Certified Public Accountant, 2014, North Carolina.

Certified Fraud Examiner, 1996

Attorney, New York, 1994, New York.

Certified Public Accountant, 1991, New York. 

  • Peter J. Vail Facultyship Award for Professor of Excellence in Teaching, Research and Service, UNCP, 2020
  • WCU Student Nominated Teacher of the Year Award, 2016-2017
  • College of Business Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching, WCU, 2015-2016
  • Last Lecture Series Award for Inspirational Teaching, UNCP, 2012
  • State of North Carolina Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2011
  • Outstanding Professor Award for Teaching, Research and Service, UNCP, 2009-2010