I joined BI Norwegian Business School in February 2023. I obtained my PhD from the Katholieke University of Leuven. Prior to joining BI, I was an associate professor at Maastricht University and professor at the Open University in Heerlen. I teach and have been teaching financial accounting courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels. I supervise bachelor and master theses and I supervise PhD students. In 2012, I obtained an NWO VENI grant (€250,000) for my research on banks and the interplay between accounting rules and the calculation of banks’ regulatory capital. I find that the interplay between accounting and regulatory capital rules has unintended consequences, such as suboptimal choices by banks that endanger the stability of the financial system. In 2018, I obtained a NWO VIDI grant (€800,000) and an ASPASIA grant (€100,000) to do research on the macro-economic consequences of accounting standards and accounting information.
My research focuses on the unintended consequences of accountingrulesand choices. I investigate whether accounting standards generate disclosure overload and whether CEO compensation disclosure has unintended consequences. Another paper examines the “dark side of an industry expert auditor”. As accounting researcher, I find it extremely important to investigate under which conditions accounting rules and choices result in accounting failures. This issue is at the heart of accounting and many of the recent debates in accounting. My papers have been published in The Accounting Review, Review of Accounting Studies,Journal of Accounting Auditing and Finance, and Corporate Governance: An International Review. More recently, my research focuses on CSR and the effects of changes in accounting regulation on employee mental health.
Publications
Fiechter, Peter; Landsman, Wayne, Peasnell, Ken & Renders, Annelies (2023)
Do industry-specific accounting standards matter for capital allocation decisions?
This study examines whether the implementation of industry-specific accounting standards helps capital market participants in making decisions about providing capital to firms. We predict and find an, on average, increase in firms’ capital growth in years following implementation of the relevant industry standard. The increase in capital growth arises primarily from equity issuances and is attributable to the implementation of the standards rather than industry-specific trends or economic shocks. We explore heterogeneity in industry standards and find more pronounced effects for (i) industry standards that reveal new information, provide explicit guidance, or in- crease accounting uniformity, and (ii) small firms, firms with greater information asymmetry, and firms with greater capital constraints before implementation of the standards. We also find evi- dence consistent with two channels explaining the documented increase in capital flows: reduction of information asymmetry and increase in financial statement comparability.
This paper discusses several issues that were raised by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in their request for information for the post-implementation review (PIR) of the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 9: Financial instruments – Classification and Measurement. In doing so, we first review the related academic literature and present empirical evidence on the post-adoption impact of IFRS 9. We then discuss conceptual issues associated with the business model and cash flow characteristics assessment in IFRS 9, as well as issues associated with the presentation of fair value changes in other comprehensive income (OCI) and modifications to contractual cash flows. Finally, we identify gaps in the literature and provide suggestions for future research that can help inform accounting standard setters.
Renders, Annelies; Fiechter, Peter & Novotny-Farkas, Zoltán (2022)
Are Level 3 fair value remeasurements useful? Evidence from FAS 157 rollforward disclosures.