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Goethe University Frankfurt | Campus Westend | Theodor-W.-Adorno-Platz 4 | 60323 Frankfurt am Main | Germany
Vita
Vita
About me
About me
I am Heisenberg-Professor for Corporate Reporting & Regulation at Goethe University Frankfurt (Faculty: Economics and Business; Group: Accounting & Sustainability Reporting). Before joining Goethe University, I served on the faculty of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. 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.
Education
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
CV
Click here for a detailed PDF version
Contact
Contact
Email: m.breuer@econ.uni-frankfurt.de
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1754-6865
SSRN: www.ssrn.com/author_id=2424935
Goethe: https://www.wiwi.uni-frankfurt.de/en/departments-new/accounting-sustainability-reporting/team
News & Updates
News & Updates
New Position: I joined Goethe-University Frankfurt as Heisenberg-Professor for Corporate Reporting & Regulation this summer (2025). I am grateful for the financial support by the German Research Foundation's (DFG) Heisenberg Programme and look forward to contributing to the activities of the new Accounting & Sustainability Reporting department at Goethe-University Frankfurt.
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); “Company 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
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 scholarly 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
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
Research Articles
Accepted & Published Papers
Accepted & Published Papers
Learning to Disclose: Disclosure Dynamics in the 1890s Streetcar Industry
with Thomas Bourveau and Robert Stoumbos, Review of Financial Studies (2025) [Video]
Topics: Disclosure, Methods
Company Websites: A New Measure of Voluntary Disclosure
with Romain Boulland and Thomas Bourveau, Journal of Accounting Research (2025) [Data & Code]
Topics: Disclosure, Methods
Reporting Regulation and Corporate Innovation
with Christian Leuz and Steven Vanhaverbeke, Journal of Accounting and Economics (2025) [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 (2025)
Topics: Auditing, Regulation
Correction to 'How Does Financial-Reporting Regulation Affect Industry-wide Resource Allocation?'
solo-authored, Journal of Accounting Research (2025) [Description of Errors, Note on Sensitivities]
Topics: Correction, Disclosure, Auditing, Regulation
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
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
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
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
Other Materials
Presentations & Discussions
Presentations & Discussions
Biodiversity in Finance and Accounting Conference (2025): Slides for discussion of Thomas et al. (2025): "Silent Skies: The Biodiversity Consequence of Meeting Earnings Benchmarks"
EAA (2025): Slides for discussion of Cascino & Correia (2025): "Behind the Corporate Veil: How Business Groups Arbitrage ESG Disclosure Mandates"
Emerging Researcher Consortium (2024): Slides on "Why We Do (Accounting) Research: Some Implications for Our Approach to Research"
Burton Conference (2023): Slides for discussion of Leonelli et al. (2023): "How Do Consumers Use Firm Disclosure? Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment"
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
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"
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