I received my PhD from the University of Basel in 2021, where I am currently employed as a postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Managerial Accounting. My current research method is analytical modelling and my research falls into three broad, overlapping categories. 

1.  Accounting and Disclosure

2. Financial Intermediation 

3. Managerial Incentive Provision

Each of my working papers considers issues of accounting and disclosure of information. At intersect with this category, my research further addresses specific issues of financial institutions and/or managerial incentive problems. Financial institutions have specific characteristics. A part of their business model is to engage in maturity transformation, and thus - opposed to conventional wisdom - information disclosure can harm one of the banks' key functions in the economy: the provision of liquidity. While banks are specific to some extent, they share common features like managerial incentive problems with other firms studied in the accounting literature. As a consequence, reporting and disclosure regulation must carefully consider the information content required in banks’ financial reports. 

The mixture of my research categories combined with an underrepresentation of topics of financial intermediation in accounting research and the currently active accounting standard setting in this field provide ample room for the publication of my working papers. Especially, topics of financial intermediation raise the interest of a broader audience in academia but also outside, like policy makers or practitioners. Current issues are the delayed implementation of scheduled bank specific accounting standards by the CARES Act or the failure of the Silicon Valley Bank. I will give a brief overview of my relevant working papers that represent my current research agenda.

Current Working Paper

Disclosing to Rationally Inattentive Traders 

(Fleer 2023a) available at  SSRN

Optimal Expected Credit Loss Impairment Rules

(Fleer 2023b) available at SSRN

Reliability-Relevance Trade-offs with an Attention-Constrained Manager 

(Fleer and Schäfer 2023)

The Interplay of Mandatory and Voluntary Disclosure in Financial Intermediation 

(Böckem and Fleer 2022)

Professional Experience

since Nov. 2021

postdoctoral researcher

Chair of Managerial Accounting, University of Basel

Aug. 2017 - Nov. 2021

research/teaching assistant

Chair of Managerial Accounting, University of Basel

Oct. 2015 - Aug. 2016

junior assistant internal audit and advisory for banks

PEQ GmbH, Zürich Switzerland

Mar. 2014 - Aug. 2014

associate regulatory and financial reporting department

Sparkasse Hochrhein, Waldshut Germany

Aug. 2008 - Apr. 2011

assistant industrial management

Arnold André GmbH & Co. KG, Bünde Germany

Academic Qualification