About

I am a professor of accounting and finance and academic director of the doctoral program at Seeburg Castle University in Seekirchen/Salzburg area, Austria. My research focuses on accounting, auditing, corporate finance, and corporate governance, with a particular interest in the regulation of audit markets and in linking accounting and finance to questions of innovation and sustainability. 

I received my doctorate (Dr. rer. oec.) from Saarland University in 2019. My research has been published, among others, in Accounting, Economics, and Law: A Convivium, Accounting History Review, Journal of Business Economics, Journal of Economic Surveys, Kyklos, Management Decision, Managerial and Decision Economics, and Management Review Quarterly. Practitioner-oriented and educational articles have been published, among others, in BankArchiv, Corporate Finance, Der Aufsichtsrat, Der Betrieb, Deutsches Steuerrecht, Die Wirtschaftsprüfung, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliches Studium, and Zeitschrift für Corporate Governance. I also contribute to general-interest media such as WirtschaftsWoche and serve as an expert commentator for outlets including Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Die Welt, ARD, ZDF, Phoenix, and Deutschlandfunk.

Selected Publications

• Bauer, L., Follert, F., & Stöckl, S. (2025). The impact of environmental performance and disclosure on the cost of debt. A systematic literature review and a conceptual model. Management Review Quarterly, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11301-025-00541-5.

• Braun, E., & Follert, F. (2025). Fair value accounting and Austrian business cycle theory: what can we learn from the German crisis of 1873? Accounting History Review, 35(3), 259-280.

• Follert, F. (2023). Squeeze-Out and Business Valuation in Germany – A Law and Economics Analysis of Judicial Decision-Making. Accounting, Economics, and Law: A Convivium, 13(3), 343-372.

• Follert, F., Klingelhöfer, H.E., & Daumann, F. (2023). The dark side of shareholder orientation: A reflection of Rappaport’s concept of shareholder value. Managerial and Decision Economics, 44(6), 3277-3288.

• Widmann, M., Follert, F., & Wolz, M. (2021). What is it going to cost? Empirical evidence from a systematic literature review on audit fee determinants. Management Review Quarterly, 71(2), 455–489.

Selected Awards and Honours

• "Top Viewed Article" 2023 in Managerial and Decision Economics for "The dark side of shareholder orientation: A reflection of Rappaport's concept of shareholder value" (with Heinz E. Klingelhöfer and Frank Daumann)

• "Top Cited Article" 2023 in Journal of Economic Surveys for "Determinants of football player's valuation: A systematic review" (with Maxence Franceschi, Jean-François Brocard, and Jean-Jacques Gouguet)

• Ranked 36th among the most research-active business scholars under 40 in the German-speaking area (DACH) (WirtschaftsWoche ranking, 2024)

• Ranked 81st among the most research-active business scholars under 40 in the German-speaking area (DACH) (WirtschaftsWoche ranking, 2022)

• Award of Excellence in Teaching 2022 "für besondere Leistungen im Bereich Lehre", awarded by the Executive Board of Seeburg Castle University (EUR 1,000)

• "Preis der Förderer" of the Institute for Empirical Economic Research at Saarland University (EUR 10,000 in total; EUR 1,750 per recipient) for the doctoral thesis "Zur Unternehmensbewertung im Spruchverfahren aus interessentheoretischer Sicht. Der aktienrechtliche Minderheitenausschluss im Lichte der Neuen Politischen Ökonomie"

• Best Paper Award, Southeast Region Meeting of the American Accounting Association (AAA), 2018, for "Diversity Issues in Accounting Research: A Content Analysis of AAA Annual Meetings 1998–2015" (with David J. Rapp, Marius Haßlinger, Michael Olbrich, and Anja Spilski)

• Recipient of the Deutschlandstipendium scholarship, 2013–2015 (sponsored by Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers)

• KPMG Award 2013 (EUR 1,000 per recipient) "for outstanding student achievements in the field of auditing"

Memberships and Affiliations

Deutscher Hochschulverband (DHV); European Accounting Association (EAA); Verband der Hochschullehrerinnen und Hochschullehrer für Betriebswirtschaft (VHB), Sections "Controlling, Accountin and Auditing" and "Banking and Finance"; Research Fellow at CREMA — Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (Research Directors: Bruno S. Frey, Margit Osterloh, Reiner Eichenberger, Oliver Zimmer); International Association of Sports Economists

Personal

I live with my family — including our daughter, born in January 2024 — in the Salzburg region. Outside academia, I enjoy the mountains and lakes of the Salzburg area, and I love to play tennis. As a soccer fan, I support SV Eintracht Trier and FC Bayern München.