Univ.-Prof.i.R. Dr.rer.pol. Ralf Ewert

Research interest

Research interests are the economic analysis of auditing, financial and management accounting, and standard setting using mainly (but not exclusively) analytical methods including information economics, game theory and agency theory. The research also covers aspects of earnings management, disclosure as well as the interplay between management accounting and financial accounting.

Education

1990 Habilitation in business administration, University of Wuerzburg, Germany

1985 Doctorate in business administration, University of Passau, Germany

1982 Study of “Business Administration”, University of Cologne, Germany (with honours)

Present and past positions

2008-2023 Full professor at Institute for Accounting and Auditing (Head), University of Graz

1994-2008 Full professor of Controlling and Auditing, Goethe-University of Frankfurt, Germany

1990-1994 Full professor of Accounting, University of Tuebingen, Germany

1988-1990 Research and teaching assistant at the Institute for Accounting and Auditing, University of Wuerzburg, Germany

1989-1990 Interim professorship for Finance at the University of Trier, Germany

1982-1988 Research and teaching assistant at the Institute for Accounting, University of Passau, Germany

Additional (declined) offers

1998 Full professorship for Auditing, University of Cologne, Germany

1993 Full professorship for Accounting and Auditing, University of Vienna

Visiting Positions

1998 Metzler Foundation Visiting Professor for Accounting, Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA´

1996 Visiting Professor for Accounting and Auditing, University of Graz

1995 Visiting Professor for Accounting and Auditing, University of Graz

Professional Activities (selected)

Since 2013 Member of the Standing Scientific Committee of the European Accounting Association (EAA)

2012-2013 Member of the Scientific Committee of the EAA-Congress in Paris (2013)

Since 2010 Deputy Speaker of DART (Doctoral Program in Accounting, Reporting and Taxation (http://www.dart.ac.at), funded by the Austrian Science Fund)

2008-2012 Chair of the Accounting Section of the Verein für Socialpolitik

2007-2011 Faculty member of INTACCT (International research program on issues in international accounting sponsored by the 6th Marie-Curie-program of the EU)

2007-2008 Member of the Scientific Committee of the EAA-Congress in Rotterdam (2008)

2007  Member of the Scientific Committee for the Annual Congress of the German Academic Association of Business Research, Paderborn

2006-2007 Member of the Scientific Committee of the EAA-Congress in Lisbon (2007)

Since 2004 Member of the “Aufgaben- und Widerspruchskommission” (Examination Committee) at the Wirtschaftsprüferkammer (Chamber of Public Accountants), Berlin

2001-2004 Member of the expert group in business administration for reviewing research applications at the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG (German Research Foundation)

2004  Organization of the EIASM Workshop on Accounting and Economics in Frankfurt (jointly with John Christensen and Alfred Wagenhofer)

1996-2001 Faculty member of the research project “Credit Management” sponsored by the Center for Financial Studies, Frankfurt am Main

1995-2000 Faculty member of the Research-program “Efficient organization of capital markets and financial institutions” sponsored by the DFG (German Research Foundation)

Editorial Activities (selected)

Since 2007 Co-editor-in-chief, Review of Managerial Science (RMS)

2005-2007 Co-editor, Betriebswirtschaftliche Forschung und Praxis (BFuP)

Since 2000 Editorial Board, German Economic Review

Ad hoc referee (selected)

Accounting, Organizations, and Society; Applied Economics, Betriebswirtschaftliche Forschung und Praxis; European Accounting Review; German Economic Review; Journal für Betriebswirtschaft; Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics; Kredit und Kapital; Management Accounting Research; OR-Spektrum; Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting; Schmalenbach Business Review; The Accounting Review; Zeitschrift für Betriebswirtschaft; Zeitschrift für betriebswirtschaftliche Forschung.

Awards and Honors

2001 Financial innovation prize from the Bethmann Bank, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Selected Publications

Ewert, R. (1999): Auditor Liability and the Precision of Auditing Standards, in: Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, 155, 181-206.

Ewert, R., and C. Ernst (1999): Target Costing, Coordination, and Strategic Cost Management, in: European Accounting Review 8, 23-49.

Ewert, R., Feess, E., and M. Nell (2000): Auditor Liability Rules under Imperfect Information and Costly Litigation: The Welfare Increasing Effect of Liability Insurance, in: European Accounting Review 9, 371-385.

Ewert, R., Schenk, G., and A. Szczesny (2000): Determinants of Bank Lending Performance in Germany, in: Schmalenbach Business Review 52, 344-362. (This paper has received the Financial Innovation Prize 2001 of the Bethmann-Bank.)

Ewert, R. (2004): Audit Regulation, Audit Quality, and Audit Research in the Post-Enron Era - An Analysis of Non-Audit-Services, in: A. Hopwood, C. Leuz, and D. Pfaff (eds.): The Economics and Politics of Accounting, Oxford University Press: Oxford, 239-263.

Ewert, R., and A. Wagenhofer (2005), Economic Effects of Tightening Accounting Standards to Restrict Earnings Management, in: The Accounting Review, 80, 1101-1124.

Ewert, R., and A. Wagenhofer (2007), Management Accounting Theory and Practice in German-Speaking Countries, in: Chapman, C.S., Hopwood, A.G., and M.D. Shields (eds.), Handbook of Management Accounting Research, Volume 2, Elsevier: Amsterdam, 1035-1069. (This Handbook has received the “Management Accounting Section of the American Accounting Association 2008 Notable Contribution to Management Accounting Literature Award“.)

Ewert, R., and A. Wagenhofer (2008), Interne Unternehmensrechnung, 7th ed., Springer-Verlag: Berlin et al.

Ewert, R., and R. Niemann (2012): Limited Liability, Asymmetric Taxation, and Risk Taking – Why Partial Tax Neutralities Can Be Harmful, in: Finanzarchiv/Public Finance Analysis, 68, 83-120.

Ewert, R., and A. Wagenhofer (2012): Earnings Management, Conservatism, and Earnings Quality, in: Foundations and Trends in Accounting, 6, 65-186.

Ewert, R., and A. Wagenhofer (2012): Using Academic Research for the Post-Implementation Review of Accounting Standards: A Note, in: Abacus, 48, 278-291.

London Economics and R. Ewert (2006): Study on the Economic Impact of Auditors’ Liability Regimes, Final Report to EC-DG Internal Market and Services, Brussels/London, available at: http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/auditing/liability/index_de.htm.

Wagenhofer, A., and R. Ewert (2007), Externe Unternehmensrechnung, 2nd ed. Springer-Verlag: Berlin et al.

(See for the Full List of Publications the related Entries in the Performance Record of Ewert’s Account at University of Graz)

 For an overview of current teaching see UNIGRAZonline.