Matthias Breuer

Vita

About me

I am an Associate Professor of Business in the Accounting Division of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business and a Visiting Associate Professor of Accounting at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business (for the academic years 2023/24 and 2024/25).  In my research, I examine issues of corporate transparency and information verification, with a particular focus on the role of regulation in addressing corporate information and sustainability issues.  I am a Research Fellow at the TRR 266 Accounting for Transparency, an Affiliate Fellow of the Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, and a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Studies on the Foundations of Law and Finance at Goethe University Frankfurt.  At CBS, I teach Financial Accounting in the core MBA program and a course on Empirical Methods in Accounting Research in the PhD program.

Education

2018 - PhD Business (Accounting), University of Chicago Booth School of Business

2012 - MSc Accounting and Finance, London School of Economics and Political Science (United Kingdom)

2011 - BSc Business Administration, WHU―Otto Beisheim School of Management (Germany)

CV

Click here for a detailed PDF version

Contact

Email: mb4468@gsb.columbia.edu

SSRN website: www.ssrn.com/author_id=2424935 

Columbia website: www8.gsb.columbia.edu/cbs-directory/detail/mb4468

News & Updates

• Correction: I discovered errors in the program code of Breuer (2021): “How does financial-reporting regulation affect industry-wide resource allocation?”  I correct my errors and report revised results in Breuer (2025).  I provide more detail on the erroneous lines of code here and on sensitivities of the results reported in Breuer (2021, 2025) to other research design choices here.  I apologize for my errors and am grateful for the opportunity to correct them.  I hope the correction and supplemental materials help readers assess the uncertainty surrounding the results originally reported in Breuer (2021).  If you have any questions about the errors and/or correction, please do not hesitate to contact me. 

• Publications: The following papers on the disclosure, assurance, and regulation of corporate information were recently accepted for publication: “Learning to Disclose: Disclosure Dynamics in the 1890s Streetcar Industry” (Review of Financial Studies); “Corporate Websites: A New Measure of Disclosure” (Journal of Accounting Research); “Public Company Auditing Around the Securities Exchange Act: Historical Lessons for ESG Assurance” (The Accounting Review); “Reporting Regulation and Corporate Innovation” (Journal of Accounting and Economics)

Research Philosophy

Academic research is the pursuit of truth and knowledge for the benefit of society.  It is an exciting, absorbing, and fun endeavor—and a particularly important one in the age of misinformation.  Still, it is also a risky process (trial and error—but mostly error!), and any knowledge produced by it is tentative (we do not know the answer—not before conducting our research, and often not even afterwards).  With scolarly humility (scio nescio!) and through a collective effort (many independent studies using varied methods!), a cooperative approach to research (constructive feedback and active mentoring!), and a transparent reporting of the research process and findings, however, we can possibly come to a better understanding of the world and contribute to the progress and wellbeing of society.  Wouldn't that be nice.

More Discussion & Caveats

For a brief discussion of my philosophy in the context of accounting research, see here (invited article in Accounting, Economics and Law: A Convivium) and here (invited talk for the 2024 Emerging Researchers Consortium).  Beware, my philosophy reflects subjective views, is work-in-progress, and expresses ideals—reasonable people can disagree, my views can change, and I personally fail more often than not to live up to the expressed ideals.  I still find it useful to deliberate and discuss the ultimate goals of and proper approaches to academic research in the field of accounting.

Research Articles

Accepted & Published Papers

Correction to 'How Does Financial-Reporting Regulation Affect Industry-wide Resource Allocation?'

solo-authored, Journal of Accounting Research (forthcoming) [Description of Errors, Note on Sensitivities]

Topics: Correction, Disclosure, Auditing, Regulation

Reporting Regulation and Corporate Innovation

with Christian Leuz and Steven Vanhaverbeke, Journal of Accounting and Economics (forthcoming) [Video]

Topics: Disclosure, Regulation

Public Company Auditing Around the Securities Exchange Act: Historical Lessons for ESG Assurance

with Thomas Bourveau, Jeroen Koenraadt, and Robert Stoumbos, The Accounting Review (forthcoming)
Topics: Auditing, Regulation

Corporate Websites: A New Measure of Voluntary Disclosure

with Romain Boulland and Thomas Bourveau, Journal of Accounting Research (forthcoming) [Data & Code]
Topics: Disclosure, Methods

Learning to Disclose: Disclosure Dynamics in the 1890s Streetcar Industry

with Thomas Bourveau and Robert Stoumbos, Review of Financial Studies (forthcoming) [Video]
Topics: Disclosure, Methods

Using and Interpreting Fixed Effects Models

with Ed deHaan, Journal of Accounting Research (2024)

Topics: Methods

Bridging Theory and Empirical Research in Accounting

with Eva Labro, Haresh Sapra, and Anastasia Zakolyukina, Journal of Accounting Research (2024)

Invited comment based on panel discussion at JAR Conference (2023)

Topics: Methods

Another Way Forward: Comments on Ohlson's Critique of Empirical Accounting Research

Invited comment, Accounting, Economics, and Law: A Convivium (2023)

Topics: Methods

Accounting for Uncertainty: An Application of Bayesian Methods to Accruals Models

with Harm Schütt, Review of Accounting Studies (2023) [Data & Code]

Topics: Earnings, Methods

Bartik Instruments: An Applied Introduction

solo-authored, Journal of Financial Reporting (2022) [Slides] [Code]

Prepared for and presented at 2021 FARS/JFR Research Methods Virtual Mini-Conference

Topics: Methods

When You Talk, I Remain Silent: Spillover Effects of Peers' Mandatory Disclosures on Firms' Voluntary Disclosures

with Katharina Hombach and Maximilian Müller, The Accounting Review (2022)

Topics: Disclosure, Regulation

How Does Financial-Reporting Regulation Affect Industry-wide Resource Allocation?

solo-authored, Journal of Accounting Research (2021) [Data & Code] [Video] [Correction]

Topics: Disclosure, Auditing, Regulation

Investment Dynamics and Earnings-Return Properties: A Structural Approach

with David Windisch, Journal of Accounting Research (2019) [Data & Code]

Topics: Earnings, Valuation, Methods

How Does Financial-Reporting Regulation Affect Firms' Banking? 

with Katharina Hombach and Maximilian Müller, Review of Financial Studies (2018)

Topics: Disclosure, Auditing, Regulation

Working Papers

Sensitivities of Results in Breuer (2021, 2025)

solo-authored [High-Resolution Figures]
Topics: Methods, Disclosure, Auditing, Regulation

The Economics of Firms' Public Disclosure: Theory and Evidence

with Katharina Hombach and Maximilian Müller

Topics: Disclosure, Methods

Uneven Regulation and Economic Reallocation: Evidence from Transparency Regulation 

with Patricia Breuer

Topics: Disclosure, Regulation

How Private Companies Attract the Market's Attention

with Thomas Bourveau and Maximilian Muhn

Topics: Disclosure

Audit Mandates, Audit Firms, and Auditors

with Anthony Le and Felix Vetter

Topics: Auditing, Regulation

Minority Representation at Work

with Wei Cai, Anthony Le, and Felix Vetter
Topics: Governance, Regulation

Work in Progress

Cash vs. Accrual Accounting: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment

with Pietro Bonetti and Maximilian Muhn

Topics: Earnings

Dynamic Investment and Accounting Conservatism

with David Windisch

Topics: Earnings, Valuation

Uncertain Earnings Betas

with Atif Ellahie and Harm Schütt

Topics: Earnings, Valuation

Corporate Footprints

with Thomas Barry, Rongchen Li, Maxmilian Muhn, Thomas Rauter, and Harm Schütt
Insights from Corporate Footprints Lab (link coming soon)

Topics: Environment, Disclosure, Methods

Other Materials

Presentations & Discussions

• Emerging Researcher Consortium (2024): Slides on "Why We Do (Accounting) Research: Some Implications for Our Approach to Research"

• JAR Conference (2023): Video of Panel Discussion "Bridging Theory and Empirical Research in Accounting: Challenges and Opportunities"

• Symposium on Private Firms: Reporting, Financing, and the Aggregate Economy (2022): Video on "Reporting Regulation and Corporate Innovation"

• NBER Conference on Economic Analysis of Regulation (2022): Video on "Reporting Regulation and Corporate Innovation"

• Egyptian Online Seminars in Business, Accounting and Economics (2021): Video on "Uneven Regulation and Economic Reallocation" 

• EAA PhD Forum (2021): Video & Slides on "Structural Estimation in Accounting Research: An Applied Primer"

• AES Weekly Webinars (2021): Video on "Learning to Disclose: Disclosure Dynamics in the 1890s Streetcar Industry"

• FARS/JFR Research Methods Virtual Mini-Conference (2021): Slides on "Bartik Instruments: An Applied Introduction"

• CBS Program on Financial Studies (2019):  Video on "How Does Financial-Reporting Regulation Affect Industry-wide Resource Allocation?"

Code & Data

Note: Code & data are shared to facilitate academic research. No guarantee for correctness. Please acknowledge use and use at your own risk.

• Code & website measure for "Corporate Websites: A New Measure of Voluntary Disclosure"

• Code & regulatory scope measure for "How Does Financial-Reporting Regulation Affect Industry-wide Resource Allocation?" [Attention: Erroneous code & scopes, updated version is forthcoming.  See description of errors here and here.]

• Code & model-averaged accruals for "Accounting for Uncertainty: An Application of Bayesian Methods to Accruals Models"

• Code for "Bartik Instruments: An Applied Introduction"