Annelies Renders (A.H.K.)

I joined the Maastricht University School of Business and Economics in October 2010. I obtained my PhD from the Katholieke University of Leuven. I coordinate and teach financial accounting courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels. I supervise bachelor and master theses and I am the promotor of 5 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 accounting rules and 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”. This research angle resulted in a research grant by the Foundation for Auditing Research. 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.

I am a member of the Culture, Ethics and Leadership research theme of GSBE. My research focuses on investigating whether companies, including banks, act ethically towards their employees, investors and society at large. I investigate for example how we can determine which companies treat their employees in an ethical way, have a strong tone at the top, or a good corporate culture using publicly available data such as corporate (financial) reports.