Finance and Accounting

Introduction

With a remit to enhance understanding of the financial decision-making of firms, managers and market participants, as well as the functioning of financial markets and intermediaries, ERIM’s Finance and Accounting programme strives to develop high-quality scientific research that brings new insights and practical benefits to a broad audience in the finance and accounting profession as well as to policy institutions involved in the monitoring and regulation of the sector.

One of the largest and most respected finance and accounting groups in the world, the programme contributes significantly to management science and management practice through a combination of research, knowledge transfer, co-creation and education.

Excellence in research

Diversity of research topics and methodologies, together with the cross-pollination of ideas and expertise, creates a knowledge-rich environment that stimulates research of the highest quality and which serves to advance the frontiers of management science.

A large part of the programme’s research is empirical, but also includes theory, numerical calibrations and experiments. Work across the broad realms of economic analysis is integral to the programme. At the same time, a considerable part of the programme’s research takes a behavioural view and tests or analyses behavioural models.

Research within the Finance and Accounting programme is organised into four specialist themes:

Asset pricing: Concerned with three areas – asset management, asset pricing and market microstructure – this theme examines optimal portfolio allocation by investors, studies the price formation process in financial markets, and investigates the trading mechanism of securities.

Behavioural management accounting: Focusing on the use of accounting information in decision-making processes, research in this theme applies theories from psychology and behavioural economics to address questions relating to the design of budgeting systems and performance evaluation processes and the effects of monetary and non-monetary incentives on decision-making.

Corporate finance: Dealing with two integrated themes – corporate finance and corporate governance – this theme explores key issues directly linked to the successful financial management of organisations.  

Financial accounting:The focus here is on the use, impact and value of the financial information provided by organisations, and whether the data firms provide is sufficient to give clear insights into their status.

Societal relevance and impact

ERIM firmly believes that its approach towards excellence in research is a contributing factor in achieving greater societal relevance and impact. Programme members actively disseminate their latest scientific insights not only within academic journals, but also to practitioners, regulators and to those in political spheres. Indeed, the scientific knowledge developed and shared by members of the Finance and Accounting programme helps to influence and shape governmental policies, corporate strategies and industry standards.

Within the realm of academia, research by the programme’s academic team is frequently published in many top tier journals and presented at leading conferences. Members also serve and have served on the editorial boards of a long list of internationally recognised journals such as Abacus, Accounting and Finance, Applied Economics, British Accounting Review, Contemporary Accounting Research, Energy Finance, European Accounting Review, International Journal of Corporate Governance, International Journal of Forecasting, Journal of Applied Econometrics, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of Econometrics, Management Control & Accounting, and Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance.

Several members of the programme have dual appointments, which provide valuable opportunities for interaction between academic research and the financial industry.

Research Initiatives F&A

The programme also works closely with ERIM’s Research Initiatives in the field of finance and accounting:

People

ERIM takes great pride in developing a collaborative and highly professional working environment where researchers share common goals and strive together to achieve impactful research that reaches the highest academic standards.