New interim professor in the field of finance, accounting and taxes in the winter semester 2022/ 2023

PD Dr. habil. Benedikt Downar will be filling in for the Chair of Accounting and Auditing at the Faculty of Business and Economics in the winter semester 2022/2023. The main focus of his work is the empirical analysis of the economic and ecological implications of mandatory sustainability reporting as well as digitalisation in the field of accounting and auditing.

Personal details
Before joining the Faculty of Business and Economics, Benedikt Downar was a private lecturer in financial accounting at the Technical University of Munich. He received his habilitation there in 2021 with work on empirical accounting and auditing research. He studied and completed his doctorate at the Ruhr University in Bochum. In the past, he held lectureships at the TU Dortmund and the University of Bayreuth.

Research
His research focuses on the interplay between financial and non-financial corporate reporting, corporate governance and auditing against the background of increasing digitalisation and ongoing climate change. The aim of his research is to contribute to evidence-based regulation.

In his research, he was able to show, among other things, that mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions creates incentives for companies to reduce their emissions. He is currently working on the reporting and implementation of corporate action packages to achieve climate neutrality.

His work has been published in high-impact academic journals such as Review of Accounting Studies, Contemporary Accounting Research, Accounting, Organizations and Society and European Accounting Review, among others. His research has also been awarded the Best Paper Award of the European Auditing Research Network (EARNet). He is also a peer reviewer for numerous international journals and academic conferences (European Accounting Association, American Accounting Association).

Teaching offer
In the winter semester 2022/ 2023, students can write bachelor and master theses with PD Dr. habil. Downar. In addition, he offers the following courses:

• Jahresabschluss (B.WIWI-OPH.0005)
• Rechnungslegung nach IFRS ("Accounting according to IFRS") (M.WIWI-BWL.0002)
• Aktuelle Entwicklungen in der Berichterstattung und Corporate Governance kapitalmarktorientierter Unternehmen ("Current Developments in Reporting and Corporate Governance of Capital Market Oriented Companies"/ registration period already expired)

For more information, please refer to the websites of the Chair of Accounting and Auditing.