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Faculty of Management, Economics and Social SciencesProfessorship of Empirical Accounting

News

 

In the following section, we provide information on currents events and on our teaching and research activities that might be of particular interest for students of the Professorship of Empirical Accounting. Please carefully note the current information related to the "Corona" pandemic of issued by the Rector and the Deans of the University of Cologne.

 

December 17, 2020

Christmas Vacations 2020 and a Happy New Year 2021

The team of the Professorship of Empirical Accounting wishes all students and colleagues peaceful and healthy Christmas vacations and a happy new year. The office of the professorship will open after the Christmas break on January 07, 2021.

 

December 11, 2020

Teaching Program in the Summer Semester 2021

In the summer semester 2021, the Professorship of Empirical Accounting offers the following teaching program. All courses are conducted in an online-only format (incl., written or oral online examination). Please note the official regulations of the University of Cologne and of the examination offices how to officially register for these courses. Please note the guidance and information provided in KLIPS.

  • Financial Statement Analysis (Bachelor)

  • Methods of Empirical Accounting Research (PhD)

  • Steuerliche Bilanzierung (Bachelor)

 

October 21, 2020

Exam Training - Financial Statement Analysis

As already announced in the lectures, there will be a short training course on Financial Statement Analysis close before the exam. The exam is scheduled for Dec 10, 2020 (so-far unconfirmed planning; please only refer to the official date from KLIPS).

Based on a series of calls with the course participants, I have selected Dec 07, 2020 (Monday) from 8.15 to 11.00 am for the training course. Before this date, I will send around some additional slights, several exercices, and course login information for this exam training. Please feel free to send questions and suggestions for the content of this training day to me.

 

October 02, 2020

World Cultural and Natural Heritage in Germany

In the current semesters, studying abroad is often complicated and considerably different to the opportunities in the previous years. While courses can be we visited in online-formats, the most important benefits of studying at a foreign university - learning and experiencing other cultures and business approaches - are often not possible.

Building on previous UNESCO workshops sponsored by BASF, KPMG, and SAP at the Castles of Augustusburg (UNESCO world heritage since 1984) in 2013, Maulbronn Monastery (UNESCO world cultural heritage since 1993) in 2014, Civitas Corvey (UNESCO world heritage since 2014) in 2015, Messel Pit Fossil Site (UNESCO natural heritage since 1995) in 2017, Classical Weimar (UNESCO world heritage since 1998) in 2018, we developed the following new format for online teaching.

 

September 27, 2020

Paper Workshop at the LMU

We are glad that our paper Earnings Management around the Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts of 2017 was invited to be presented in the TRR 266 Workshop of the LMU in Munich. Please contact the authors to get the full version of the paper.

 

September 25, 2020

Financial Statement Analysis

The participants of the course Financial Statement Analysis can find all relevant information and the slights for the first sessions on the course website. Further information on the course (incl., confidential datasets and solution hints) are provided via email. To receive the full login information for the course please write a short email to Prof. Dr. Michael Stich.

 

August 03, 2020

Teaching Program in the Winter Semester 2020/2021

In the winter semester 2020/2021, the Professorship of Empirical Accounting offers the following courses. All courses are conducted in an online-only format (incl., written or oral online examination). Please note the official regulations of the University of Cologne and of the examination offices how to officially register for these courses. Please note the guidance and information provided in KLIPS.

  • Financial Statement Analysis (Bachelor)

  • Management- und Lageberichterstattung (Bachelor)

  • Measurement of Accounting Phenomena (PhD)

 

March 02, 2020

Changes in the Teaching Program due to the "Corona"-Closedown

We hope that you are all in good health. In line with the procedures at the University of Cologne, the following changes in the teaching program of the Professorship of Empirical Accounting due to the "Corona" disease are in place for the remaining courses of the winter semester 2019/2020:

  • As already announced before, all lectures and tutorials of the Professorship of Empirical Accounting with the formal requirement of physical attendance end on February 21, 2020.
  • The only exceptions are the following courses: Applied Empirical Accounting Research, Management- und Lageberichterstattung and Mathematics of Auditing. These courses are continued in an interactive online-format. All participants are already instructed; please contact the professorship for any inquires.
  • All doctoral courses are shifted one semester ahead, i.e. Measurement of Accounting Phenomena takes place at the end of the summer semester 2020 and Reviewing Empirical Accounting Research at the beginning of the winter semester 2020/2021.

 

February 4, 2020

Workshop on the Revision of the IIRC Integrated Reporting Framework

In late February 2020, the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) will start the process of refreshing the IIRC Framework for integrated reporting. As a practical exercises for all students who want to make impact through accounting standard improvements in their future professional and/or political life, the Professorship of Empirical Accounting offers a two-day workshop at the University of Cologne.

Day I (February 28, 2020):

  • 10.00 to 12.00    Conceptual research on integrated reporting
  • 14.00 to 16.00    Empirical research on integrated reporting
  • 18.00 to 20.00    Dinner with lecture on regulation politics

Day II (February 29, 2020)

  • 10.00 to 12.00    Proposals for comment letters to the IIRC
  • 14.00 to 16.00    Consolidation of comment letters

A registration is possible under the following link. Please directly contact Prof. Dr. Michael Stich in the case of any inquiry. Further details about the revision program are available on the following websites of the IIRC: www.integratedreporting.org/2020revision.

 

January 31, 2020

Workshop on Corporate Digital Responsibility

The workshop on corporate digital responsibility (originally scheduled for Februar 10 and 11, 2020) was canceled due to illness of the guest lecturer. The workshop will be catched up in the first week of June 2020.

 

January 15, 2020

New Practitioner Publication on Reporting about the Digital Transformation

We are proud to announce that a practitioner article "Reporting about the digital transformation" of Maria Stich (BMW) and Michael Stich (University of Cologne) was recently published in Zeitschrift fuer Internationale und Kapitalmarktorientierte Rechnungslegung. The final summary of the article in German:

"In diesem Beitrag wird der Frage nachgegangen, wie Unternehmen über ihre Aktivitäten im Kontext der digitalen Transformation berichten und ob Kapitalmarktteilnehmer diese Anstrengungen als werttreibend ansehen. Hierfür wird mittels einer automatisierten Textanalyse von Geschäftsberichten ein Maß für den Grad der Berichterstattung über die digitale Transformation generiert. Neben dem Trend zunehmend über diese Aspekte zu berichten, illustrieren die Befunde große Branchenunterschiede. Kapitalmarktteilnehmer wertschätzen insb. eine ausgewogene Darstellung der Chancen und Risiken der digitalen Transformation, während eine einseitige Berichterstattung weitestgehend unberücksichtigt bleibt."

 

December 11, 2019

Leave Semester from November 2019 to June 2020

The Professorship of Empirical Accounting is strongly committed and involved in the international research community. Thus, from time-to-time, it is necessary to leave the daily business of the university to focus on specific research projects which are conducted together with international partners. This approach is in the very best interest of all university members - in particular of the students - who mutually benefit from research-oriented learnings offers and activities.

In this leave semester, we concentrate on two research projects - one on adverse incentives from auditor remuneration contracts and one on short-termism driven by reporting requirements - which are conducted in cooperation with colleagues at the Aachen University of Applied Sciences, Aalto University (Finland), and the University of Exeter (United Kingdom). Further, we seek to finalize joint practitioner-oriented research projects with BMW, Horváth and Partners Management Consultants, and SAP.

Nevertheless, in the winter term 2019/2020 and in the summer term 2020, we offer a number of courses:

  • Applied Empirical Accounting Research (winter semester 2019/2020)
  • Bachelor Thesis (winter semester 2019/2020 and summer semester 2020)
  • Management- und Lageberichterstattung (winter semester 2019/2020)
  • Master Thesis (winter semester 2019/2020)
  • Reviewing Empirical Accounting Research (winter semester 2019/2020)
  • Sustainability Accounting and Assurance (summer semester 2020)

Additionally, although the courses are not taught in these semesters, we offer exams for the following courses (every semester or at the end of every half-semester term):

  • Accounting Analysis (summer semester 2020)
  • Financial Accounting (summer semester 2020)
  • Financial Statement Analysis (first and second term of the winter semester 2019 and summer semester 2020)
  • Integrated Reporting (summer semester 2020)
  • Mathematics of Auditing (winter semester 2019/2020)

Please refer to e-learning offers on these courses to promisingly participate the exams. Please strictly follow the guidance of the examination office to participate these exams.

 

December 9, 2019

Doctoral Progam Changes

Please note the following changes in the doctoral course offers of the Professorship of Empirical Accounting:. The next dates of these courses - which are open to all interested doctoral students of the faculty - are as follows:

  • Measurement of Accounting Pheonmena: Winter Term 2020/2021
  • Methods of Empirical Accounting Research: Winter Term 2019/2020
  • Reviewing Empirical Accounting Research: Summer Term 2020

 

November 02, 2019

New Practitioner Publication on Reporting about the Digital Transformation

We are glad to announce that a practitioner article "Reporting about the digital transformation" of Maria Stich (BMW) and Michael Stich (University of Cologne) was accepted for publication in Zeitschrift fuer Internationale und Kapitalmarktorientierte Rechnungslegung. The summary of the article in German:

"In diesem Beitrag wird der Frage nachgegangen, wie Unternehmen über ihre Aktivitäten im Kontext der digitalen Transformation berichten und ob Kapitalmarktteilnehmer diese Anstrengungen als werttreibend ansehen. Hierfür wird mittels einer automatisierten Textanalyse der Geschäftsberichte deutscher Unternehmen ein Maß für den Grad der Berichterstattung über die digitale Transformation generiert und anschließend näher untersucht.

Die digitale Transformation erfährt insb. in der Konzernlageberichterstattung eine besondere Akzentuierung, wobei entsprechende Schlüsselbegriffe kaum in der Risiko- sondern zumeist in der Chancen- und Prognoseberichterstattung vorkommen. Neben dem Trend zunehmend über diese Aspekte zu berichten, illustrieren die Befunde große Branchenunterschiede. Bemerkenswert ist zudem, dass die Einschätzung der Vorteilhaftigkeit von Aktivitäten im Kontext der digitalen Transformation stark von dem Zeitpunkt abhängt, an dem die Unternehmen die Bedeutung dieser gesamtgesellschaftlichen Entwicklung erstmalig in ihrer Berichterstattung aufgegriffen haben. Konkret wird eine starke Akzentuierung in der Berichterstattung nur dann als werttreibend angesehen, wenn sich Unternehmen bereits seit längerer Zeit mit den damit einhergehenden Chancen und Risiken für das Unternehmen befassen. Zudem schätzen Kapitalmarktteilnehmer insb. eine ausgewogene Darstellung der Chancen und Risiken der digitalen Transformation als vorteilhaft ein, während eine einseitig chancenorientierte Berichterstattung von diesen weitestgehend unbeachtet bleibt."

 

February 20, 2019

New Research Publication on the Managerial Effects of Sustainability Assurance

We are glad to announce that a research article "Does sustainability assurance improve managerial investment decisions?" of Maria Stich (née Steinmeier) and Michael Stich is published at the current issue of the European Accounting Review.

The paper analyzes the effect of sustainability assurance (SA) on managerial investment decisions in terms of sustainability investment (SI) efficiency. We hypothesize that SA improves the set of information available for managerial decision making, resulting in higher SI efficiency. Further, we argue that SA reduces information asymmetry between managers and investors, which enables investors to more effectively monitor a firm’s management, thus again leading to higher SI efficiency. Empirical findings for an international sample support these links. Moreover, we find weak evidence that SA provided by an auditor is associated with a stronger effect on SI efficiency. In additional analyses, we find weak evidence that the association of SA and SI efficiency is more pronounced if the SA is provided on a higher scope, on a higher level, and if other governance mechanisms are weak.

 

January 14, 2019

Integrated Reporting in the Summer Semester 2019

In the Second Term of the Summer Semester 2019, the Professorship of Empirical Accounting again offers the Master Degree course Integrated Reporting which introduce students to the key economics of integrated reporting and to the regulations of the International Integrated Reporting Council's (IIRC) framework on integrated reporting. Again a highly experienced representative of the IIRC and a participant of the IIRC Corporate Reporting Dialogue will provide background insights on the global integrated reporting movement and the current challenges of this major trend in corporate reporting.

Please directly contact Prof. Dr. Michael Stich for any questions around the organization and content of this course which is newly included into the highly popular module Financial Accounting. Details are provided on these websites until the end of January.

 

December 22, 2018

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

The team of the Professorship of Empirical Accounting wishes all students and colleagues peaceful and merry Christmas and a happy new year 2019. We are looking forward to a new year with new courses, new events, and (again) open-minded discussion of the contemporary research and practitioner challenges.

 

December 7, 2018

Digital Transformation Units

On December 3 and 4, 2018, the German Federal Government arranged the Digital Transformation Summit 2018 (Digitalgipfel der Bundesregierung) which was one of the largest and internationally most recognized forums for the interdisciplinary discussion of contemporary questions of the digital transformation. Thereby, "digital transformation" was used as an overall term for the rapidly ongoing innovations and challenges in technology, natural sciences, social interactions, and business.

Prof. Dr. Michael Stich, invited by the Federal Minister of Economics, served as an expert for the legal and statistical challenges of environmental and non-financial reporting, e.g., corporate reporting and analysis of carbon emissions, biodiversity, and sustainability assurance. To closely incorporate the key aspects and insights from this congress into the teaching program of the Professorship of Empirical Accounting, all courses of the winter semester 2018/2019 and the summer semester 2019 will incorporate an additional unit on digital transformation in financial accounting which is automatically provided to all participants of the courses at the Professorship of Empirical Accounting. This unit includes both (i) a summary of contemporary trends and challenges of digital transformation and (ii) an online case-study on the implementation of digital technologies in the data generation, aggregation, and reporting process in the field of carbon emissions and biodiversity.

 

November 8, 2018

Fake News Analysis

The Professorship of Empirical Accounting offers a series of additional workshops on "fake news analysis" for business decision making. Thereby, we discuss statistical techniques how to identify pieces of information that are most likely to be purposefully stated with erroneous and/or misleading content. Moreover, we also take the other perspective and ask whether investigative media's (e.g., well-known investigative journalistic series in the German and United States television) reporting on "events" and "scandals" hold when we take a more holistic statistical perspective (e.g., on emissions of diesel cars, on vegetarian food production, etc.). Further information on this additional course offer are provided here. The registration is open until November 24, 2018.

 

October 4, 2018

Module Financial Accounting

In the Summer Semester 2019, the Professorship of Empirical Accounting offers the Master level module Financial Accounting (1016SMFA00) which is a key element of the accounting education of Master students of the Area Accounting and Taxation. The module is fully taught in English and deals with a comprehensive set of issues in the field of corporate reporting which also includes contemporary challenges such as integrated reporting. The module consists of the following three courses that focus on three particularly important facets of corporate reporting:

  • Part I: International Accounting

  • Part II: Accounting Analysis

  • Part III: Integrated Reporting

Please note that only Part II and Part III are taught in the summer semester 2019, thus both courses have to be attended to participate in the final exam on the module Financial Accounting.

 

October 3, 2018

TÜV Carbon Emission Measurement Rallye

All students or regular courses (e.g., of the course Integrated Reporting) and extracurricular courses (e.g., of the course Corporate Sustainability Policy and Accounting) are warmly invited to join the TÜV Carbon Emission Measurement Rallye jointly arranged with the Professorship of Empirical Accounting. Participants receive an in-depth idea about the practical challenges technics of carbon emission measurement for large firms. In particular, the students learn that carbon accounting is likewise a technical and statistical challenge.

 

October 2, 2018

Bachelorkurs Management- und Lageberichterstattung

Die Teilnehmerinnen und Teilnehmer des Bachelorseminars Management- und Lageberichterstattung im Wintermsemester 2018/2019 erhalten im Lauf dieser Woche Informationen zum Ablauf und den Inhalten dieses Seminars. Für weitere Fragen wenden Sie sich bitte unmittelbar an die dort angegebenen Dozenten.

 

August 16, 2018

Research Interaction Projects

Similar to the previous semesters, the Professorship of Empirical Accounting offers students the possibility to directly encounter international scientifc work. Details are provided here.

 

August 02, 2018

Exam Correction Completed of Financial Statement Analysis

The correction of the exam on Financial Statement Analysis is completed. The final grades (and certificates) are published together with the other grades and credits of the module Accounting and Taxation II in due time only via KLIPS.

 

July 04, 2018

Course Financial Accounting in the Summer Term 2019

In the summer term 2019, the specialization module Financial Accounting - previously taught by Prof. Dr. Julia Nasev - is jointly offered by the Professorship of Empirical Accounting and a further professorship of the Area Accounting and Taxation (not yet assigned). Details on this course are provided in due time.

 

June 03, 2018

Integrated Reporting - Exam Correction Completed

The correction of the exam on Integrated Reporting (examination date: May 28, 2018) is completed. For unbinding pre-informationon on the grades, the participants can contact the Professorship of Empirical Accounting via email (stichSpamProtectionwiso.uni-koeln.de). The final grades (and certificates) are published in due time only via KLIPS.

 

February 21, 2018

Exam Correction Completed

The correction of the exams of the Professorship of Empirical Accounting of the winter term 2017/2018 is completed. The credits and grades will be published in due time only via KLIPS.

 

February 2, 2018

Schedules for the Bachelor Courses in the Summer Term 2018

In the summer term 2018, the Professorship of Empirical Accounting offers the following Bachelor courses: Financial Statement Analysis and Sustainability Accounting and Assurance. Further details on the contents are available on the following websites and in KLIPS. Please directly use KLIPS to register for these courses.

 

January 15, 2018

Informationsveranstaltung des Career Service

Was passiert? Es ist soweit, die Bewerbung fürs Praktikum oder den ersten festen Job nach erfolgreich abgeschlossenem Studium steht an. Aber wie wirkt meine Bewerbung auf den Personaler meines Wunscharbeitgebers? Was kann ich tun, um zu überzeugen ohne mich zu verbiegen? Und welche Eindrücke nimmt man vom ersten Gespräch mit? Hierüber und weitere, spannende Aspekte rund um den perfekten ersten Eindruck in Sachen Bewerbung sprechen wir.

Wann und Wo? Dienstag, 23. Januar 2018, 17.45 bis 19.15 Uhr, Hörsaal XXIII

Für wen? Wir freuen uns auf Studentinnen und Studenten der Wirtschaftswissenschaften mit Schwerpunkt Finanzen, Steuern oder Wirtschaftsprüfung.

 

December 22, 2017

Research on the Real Effects of Sustainability Assurance

This paper, authored by Maria Steinmeier (TUM) and Michael Stich, analyzes the effect of sustainability assurance (SA) on managerial investment decisions in terms of sustainability investment (SI) efficiency. We hypothesize that SA improves the set of information available for managerial decision making, resulting in higher SI efficiency. Further, we argue that SA reduces information asymmetry between managers and investors, which enables investors to more effectively monitor a firm’s management, thus again leading to higher SI efficiency. Empirical findings for an international sample support these links. Moreover, we find weak evidence that SA provided by an auditor is associated with a stronger effect on SI efficiency. In additional analyses, we find weak evidence that the association of SA and SI efficiency is more pronounced if the SA is provided on a higher scope, on a higher level, and if other governance mechanisms are weak.

 

December 20, 2017

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2018

The team of the Professorship of Empirical Accounting wishes all students and colleagues peaceful and merry Christmas and a happy New Year 2018.

 

December 6, 2017

Student Elections 2017

In the week from December 11, 2017 to December 15, 2017, all students are invited to participate in the student elections 2017 to choose the student representatives in the most influential institutions of the University of Cologne, such as the Fakultaetsvertretung, the Studierendenparlament, and the Senat). A fair representation of all groups of students is essential for the concept of a self-governed university. Further details are available here.

 

December 05, 2017

Presentation of the Annual Economics Report

Prof. Dr. Christoph Schmidt (RWI) will present the key elements and conclusions of the Annual Economics Report ("Jahresgutachten") of the German Council of Economic Experts ("Sachverstaendigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung"). All interested studentents are warmly welcome.

 

November 03, 2017

Schmalenbach Scholarship

The Schmalenbach Gesellschaft fuer Betriebswirtschaft invites application for the Schmalenbach Scholarship 2018. The application deadline is November 30, 2017. Further information are provided here.

 

October 24, 2017

RWE Finance Graduate Program

The RWE Finance Graduate Program will give you significant exposure to all aspects of our value chain, equip you with an understanding of how we operate as a company, and lay the foundations for your future career. You get to choose four rotations in the following business areas: controlling, credit risk, accounting, financing and portfolio management. Throughout your graduate program, you’ll learn through a mixture of online education, face-to-face workshops and technical on-the-job training, and by working alongside industry experts and being exposed to every aspect of the energy value chain. This will be supplemented by a variety of development opportunities and networking events.

 

October 15, 2017

Value and Risk Research Workshop

The Professorship of Empirical Accounting and the Value and Risk Group of the University of Cologne invites students to participate in the research workshop on December 04, 2017. The research workshop starts at 15:45 in Seminar Room 110 of the WiSo Building. We are glad to present four highly experienced researchers who will present their current research work in the field of challenges in analyzing textual and massive data in empirical finance:

  • Carsten Jentsch ("statistical inference on party positions from texts")

  • Maik Schmeling ("does central bank tone move asset prices?")

  • Harm Schütt ("competition in financial news markets and trading activity")

  • Tom Zimmermann ("machine learning with applications to financial economics")