Credit: Artem Podrez from Pexels Regulators often move in and out of revolving doors between government and the industries they oversee. They can bring valuable expertise. But their ties also can raise questions about whose interests their knowledge ultimately serves. In one recent case, staffers at the U.S. Treasury Department—who previously worked at Big Four accounting firms—helped draft tax regulations that benefited their former clients. The officials later returned to those firms with promotions and higher pay. New research from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin finds more subtle revolving door effects at the Securities and Exchange Commission. It suggests that a "cooling-off" period might be valuable for newly hired regulators. The research is published in The Accounting Review journal. Matthew Kubic, assistant professor of accounting, and Sara Toynbee, associate professor of accounting, examined SEC reviews of corporate financial statements.…