I am a PhD Candidate at the Department of Accounting. Before starting the PhD program, I graduated with distinction from the Accounting track of the Research Master in Business program at Tilburg University. During the PhD program, I visited the University of Washington.
In my dissertation – titled ‘Disclosure practices in a changing landscape: The role of ESG, executive turnover, and index fund ownership’ – I examine how firms communicate with capital market participants, what drives these choices, and how these choices affect the information environment and capital markets. Specifically, the three chapters are about: (1) the emergence of ESG-focused investor events, where management interacts with investors and analysts about the firm’s ESG performance and strategy; (2) how earnings announcements change around executive turnover and the differential responsibilities of CEOs and CFOs in shaping earnings announcements; and (3) the impact of index investing on the extent to which management interacts with investors and analysts at investor events.
My supervisors are Philip Joos (Tilburg University) and Christoph Sextroh (University of Oldenburg & Tilburg University). I expect to graduate in August 2026.
I am interested in capital market communication – such as earnings announcements, guidance, and investor events like calls and conference presentations – as well as investor relations. Specifically, I want to understand why firms organize and participate in particular investor events; how managers, analysts, and investors interact during these events; what drives the content and formatting of disclosures; and how these dynamics and choices affect informational value as well as their implications for market efficiency. In addition, I am interested in how firms’ information environments are affected by the rise of new communication channels and new technologies.
Index investing and disclosure: Evidence from interactions between management and capital market participants
I examine whether index fund ownership is associated with fewer interactions between management and capital market participants at investor events such as earnings calls, conference presentations, analyst/investor days, and company visits. Investor events are distinct from other voluntary disclosures because they offer investors and analysts the opportunity to ask management questions. While prior research documents that index fund ownership is associated with more guidance and 8-Ks, I find a negative association with the number of investor events. This negative association is driven by reduced demand for firm-specific information, consistent with the prediction following from the seminal Grossman-Stiglitz model on efficient markets. The level of index fund ownership is also negatively associated with the information content of non-earnings investor calls and meetings, as well as conference presentations, but positively associated with the information content of earnings calls. Further, whether firms organize an earnings call is crucial in maintaining the informativeness of stock prices when index fund ownership increases. These findings show that index investing can have a detrimental effect on firms' information environments.
How executive turnover affects earnings announcement disclosure content and formatting choices
with Jeremiah Bentley (University of Oklahoma) & Máté Széles (Tilburg University)
We examine how individual executives influence content and formatting in earnings announcements, a critical disclosure channel in capital markets. While prior research extensively focuses on the demand side of earnings announcements, the production process remains underexplored. Using a sample of 177,668 quarterly earnings announcements, including 4,835 firm-quarters with CEO appointments and 6,982 firm-quarters with CFO appointments, we find that both CEOs and CFOs significantly shape earnings announcement content and formatting, with CFOs playing a more dominant role. Both new CEOs and new CFOs initiate new disclosure and formatting practices; however, the decision to discontinue them rests primarily with the CFO. New CEOs are more likely to influence earnings announcements disclosure if they are hired after negative firm performance. In contrast, CFOs influence disclosure regardless of prior performance. Both CEOs and CFOs influence top-line and bottom-line metric disclosures, such as revenue and earnings, while CFOs appear to have the primary influence on the disclosure of other metrics, such as EBIT and operating cashflow. The impact of new executives is more pronounced if they are external hires, who partially transfer disclosure practices from their prior firms. These effects are immediate, suggesting that long tenure is not necessary for imprinting disclosure styles. These findings underscore the significant role individual executives play in shaping how their firms communicate financial performance to markets, as well as the differential disclosure responsibilities held by CEOs and CFOs.
Let's talk about ESG: The emergence of ESG-focused investor events
with Philip Joos (Tilburg University) & Christoph Sextroh (Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg & Tilburg University)
Firms regularly meet with investors to discuss corporate strategy and recent performance. More recently, firms began to host or participate in investor events that specifically focus on ESG. Using a comprehensive sample of ESG-focused investor events, we investigate the role of these meetings in capital markets. The number of ESG-focused investor events significantly increases after 2017. Firms participating in such events are likely to continue to participate in ESG-focused investor events, suggesting that these meetings are not just one-time events in response to, for example, specific economic shocks. We also document that firms participating in ESG-focused investor events show generally higher ESG metrics, but also originate from industries with higher ESG-related risks. In addition, the information environment of ESG-focused investor events is different from other events, and hosting or participating in ESG-focused investor events is associated with increases in ownership by ESG-focused funds. Overall, our results suggest that ESG-focused investor events are likely to constitute a new type of information channel in the corporate reporting ecosystem.
I am responsible for the tutorials in the Bachelor course Business Administration, and I previously did the tutorials for the Bachelor course Financial Accounting. Further, I supervise students working on their Bachelor Thesis and Master File.