Laurence van Lent is a Professor of Accounting and Economics at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, the Vice-Dean of Doctoral Education, and a Principal Investigator at the Accounting for Transparency project.

His research cuts across political science and economics. He has published on the topics of organizational design, incentives and performance measurement, climate change, politicians and firms, and religion and social norms in outlets including the Quarterly Journal of Economics, Management Science, Review of Finance, and Journal of Accounting Research. He has served as an Editor at The Accounting Review, an Associate Editor at the Journal of Accounting Research, and as the Editor-in-Chief at European Accounting Review.