> Institute of Accounting and Taxation

University of Mnster

2013 Annual Review

Highlights 3rd EIASM Workshop on Current Research in Taxation | Completed Dissertations | Visiting Scholars
VT Summer School | Ph.D. Seminars on Empirical Tax Research | Outstanding Tax Student Awards

> Contents

Editorial

03

Research
3rd Workshop on Current Research in Taxation
Conference Participation
Mnster Accounting Workshop Presentations
Completed Dissertations
Visiting Scholars
Publications

04
06
08
09
13
14

Ph.D. Seminars
Outstanding Tax Student Awards
Course Program in 2013
VT Summer School
INTOP Seminar

15
16
17
18
19

Sponsoring Partners
Society for the Promotion of Accounting and Taxation

21
21

Teaching

Network

Impressions

22

Institute of Accounting and Taxation

University of Mnster
Universittsstr. 14-16
48143 Mnster, Germany
Tel.: +49 251 83 22880
Fax: +49 251 83 21824

iub@wiwi.uni-muenster.de
2

Layout and Editing: Dr. Gerrit Lietz

gerrit.lietz@wiwi.uni-muenster.de

www.iub-muenster.de

Editorial <
Dear colleagues and friends of the Institute,
We are pleased to present to you the 2013 edition
of our annual review, which provides an illustrated overview of the diverse research and teaching
activities that shaped the Institutes past year.

further complements our Business Schools structured Ph.D. program by offering students a
smooth entry to seminal and up-to-date empirical
literature in the field of tax research.

In July for the third consecutive time, we gladly

hosted the EIASM Workshop on Current Research
in Taxation. The meeting once again turned out to
be a great success with participants from 14 different countries, numerous interesting research
paper presentations and prolific discussions.
Most certainly, the workshop found two excellent
and dedicated keynote speakers in Professors
Scott Dyreng and Douglas Shackelford.

Last but not least, it has been a great pleasure to

welcome a number of guests to Mnster, who
much enriched our academic year
professionally and personally.
Prof. Elisabetta Mafrolla from
lUniversit di Foggia came to
Mnster for the summer while Simona Jirskov from the VE
University
Prague
smoothly
integrated as a visiting Ph.D. student. In addition,
many
outstanding
researchers
followed
invitations to present and discuss their diverse
studies in our Accounting Workshop. We were
pleased to welcome so many of you in Mnster
and surely benefit from your valuable input!

We also expanded our international focus by presenting work in progress on several conference
occasions in the U.S., across Europe and at
home. For the first time, a delegation of our institute was invited to present a working paper at the
Illinois Symposium on Tax Research. Another paper was discussed at the National Tax Association
Conference in Tampa, and many of my Ph.D. students joined me in attending the annual meetings
of the EAA in Paris and the AAA in Anaheim.
A newly created Ph.D. seminar Empirical Tax Research was successfully launched in summer. It

Director
Prof. Dr. Christoph Watrin

Dean Mnster School of Business and Economics

Office
Britta Heitmann
Petra von Oppenkowski
Assistant Professors
Dr. Adrian Kubata
Dr. Robert Ullmann
Research Assistants / Ph.D. Students
David Eberhardt
Dr. Gerrit Lietz
Fabian Riegler
Martin Thomsen
Dr. Tim Wagener

The coming pages provide additional insights and

many more impressions. We hope you enjoy the
read and look forward to another year of fruitful
exchange and collaboration.
Sincerely yours,

Guest Lecturers
Dr. Rainer Braun
Steffen Gnutzmann
Norbert Graetz
Dr. Carsten Hink
Thorsten Hunkenschrder
Dr. Stefan Mense
Frank Nordhoff
Hugo van Bremen
Robert Welzel
Dr. Ansas Wittkowski

Judge, Fiscal Court Cologne

WTS Hamburg
Deloitte Dsseldorf
AWB Mnster
pwc Osnabrck
pwc Osnabrck
KPMG Dortmund
FH Mnster
WTS Frankfurt
LeMaitre Taxperience Munich

Student Assistants
Alexander Brune
Antje Messink
Samira Rahimi
Sven Tietz

Nikola Frieburg
Jonas Metz
Martin Sattler
Benedikt Wischer

> 3rd EIASM Workshop on Current Research in Taxation

The Workshop on Current Research in Taxation,
hosted jointly with the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management, was held in Mnster for the third time on July 1 and 2, 2013. The annual conference, which has the goal to bring together international scholars working on current issues
in taxation, was co-chaired this year by Professor
Christoph Watrin together with Professor Christoph
Spengel from the University of Mannheim.

For example, research has not yet provided satisfactory answers as to how well corporate earnings explain corporate taxes paid, what explains the large
observable variation in corporate effective tax rates,
and whether the decline in foreign ETRs is driven by
an increase in foreign tax haven use or through other available channels. More broadly, in the light of
growing political debates and pressures for reform,
it is far from clear what ultimately defines a
broken tax system and how it can be fixed.
Throughout their illustrative introduction, Shackelford and Dyreng consistently stressed the great potential of research to inform tax policy on various
levels, for instance by providing novel insights as to

In their role as experienced keynote speakers, Professors Douglas Shackelford from the Kenan-Flagler
Business School (University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill) and Scott Dyreng from the Fuqua
School of Business (Duke University) took the floor
to kick off the meeting by providing a brief overview
of the past, the present, and the future of tax research. Their vivid presentation highlighted the unabated demand for empirical research in this field
and pointed out a number of interesting issues related to corporate tax planning behavior.

which types of real activities are encouraged or discouraged by the tax system, identifying which individuals ultimately bear the corporate tax burden,
or what inefficiencies (e.g. investment or accounting
distortions) may be caused by corporate taxes.

Workshop on Current Research in Taxation Past co-chairs and keynote speakers

Co-chairs with Prof. Christoph Watrin

Keynote speakers

2011

Prof. Eva Eberhartinger (Vienna University)

Prof. Michelle Hanlon (MIT)

Prof. Edward Maydew (UNC)

2012

Prof. Andreas Oestreicher (University of Gttingen)

Prof. Jennifer Blouin (Wharton)

Prof. John Robinson (Texas at Austin)

2013

Prof. Christoph Spengel (University of Mannheim)

Prof. Scott Dyreng (Duke)

Prof. Douglas Shackelford (UNC)

3rd EIASM Workshop on Current Research in Taxation <

In subsequent workshop sessions running over two days, participating
scholars from more than 20 different universities located in 14 different
countries presented and discussed their empirical work in progress.
Topical examples include working papers on tax-driven location decisions, cross-border profit shifting, the estimation and effects of tax loss
carry-forwards, transfer pricing in large multinational enterprises, or
potential interactions between tax aggressiveness and earnings informativeness.
Participants unanimously praised the workshops productive atmosphere, the high degree of internationality, and the outstanding keynote
speakers who took on the journey to Mnster. We very much appreciate
Professor Shackelford and Dyrengs visit, who played a significant part
in contributing to the great success of this years conference.
The next Workshop will be held from June 30th to July 1st 2014. On that
occasion, we are excited to welcome Professor Dhammika Dharmapala
(University of Illinois) and Professor Kevin Markle (University of Waterloo) as experienced keynote speakers. We are looking forward to many
interesting paper submissions and to see many of you in Mnster!

Announcement
4th Workshop on Current Research in Taxation

Mnster, June 30 - July 01, 2014

Keynote speakers:

Professor Dhammika Dharmapala

University of Illinois

Professor Kevin Markle

University of Waterloo
www.eiasm.org

> Conference Participation

National Tax Association Annual Conference

VHB / IAAER Accounting Conference

In November, Tim Wagener attended the 106th Annual Conference

on Taxation, organized by the
National Tax Association NTA. The
conference, at which economists, lawyers, and accountants discuss current topics in the field of taxation, took place in Tampa, Florida.

The annual meeting of the German Accounting Section within the Academic Association for
Business Research VHB jointly with the
International Association for Accounting
Education and Research IAAER took place in Frankfurt, Germany from February 14 to 16. It was held
under the theme Accounting Research: Diversity
within Unity and generously sponsored by EY. The
paper A new Method to Discover Earnings Management that aims at Meeting (or Beating) Earnings
Targets (by Robert Ullmann and Christoph Watrin)
was accepted for presentation with a discussant.
Robert Ullmann presented the paper and received
suggestions that helped to further improve the manuscript. It was also, once
again, a great opportunity to
see the interesting work of other German and international researchers in this subject area.

Tim Wagener presented the paper

The Relevance of Complex Group
Structures for Income Shifting and
Investors Valuation of Tax Avoidance (with Christoph Watrin). He also served as a
discussant on Ruud de Mooijs and Jost Heckemeyers paper Taxation and Corporate Leverage: The
Difference between Banks and Non-Banks.
Illinois Symposium on Tax Research
A working paper from the Institute of Accounting
and Taxation was accepted for presentation at the
bi-annual University of Illinois Symposium on Tax Research on September
20, 2013. The conference offers an
excellent opportunity to interact with
leading tax researchers from all over
the US. A selected group of around a hundret participants attended the symposium in Chicago, Illinois.
Martin Thomsen opened the conference with his
presentation of the paper titled The Impact of Taxes on Location Decisions (with Robert Ullmann and
Christoph Watrin). The session was moderated by
Paul Beck (University of Illinois). Two discussants
were assigned to the paper: The academic perspective was provided by Professor Scott Dyreng (Duke)
while the practical side was covered by Larry Salus
(Federal Tax Director of Reynolds Group Holdings,
Inc.). Their comments and the subsequent discussion with the audience proved very valuable for further revisions of the paper. It has been an interesting experience to participate in this small and focused conference that brought together a large part
of the American tax research community.
6

Mannheim: Taxing Multinational Firms

The Centre for European Economic Research ZEW at
the University of Mannheim jointly with the Centre
for Business Taxation at Sad Business School in
Oxford organized, for the first time this year, a Conference on Taxing Multinational Firms. The conference took place at the premises of the ZEW directly
in the center of Mannheim. The
meeting brought together leading tax researchers from Europe, the United States and
other places around the world.
Robert Ullmann presented the paper Are Location
Decisions Influenced by Tax Havens Status? An
Analysis on Tax Haven Existence and Closure (coauthored by Martin Thomsen und Christoph Watrin). The paper was discussed by Alfons
Weichenrieder who provided very good suggestions
on how to advance the paper. An interested audience also provided helpful comments.

Conference Participation <

EAA Annual Meeting (Paris)
The 2013 annual conference of the European Accounting Association EAA
was held from May 6 to 8 in Paris,
France within the premises of the ParisDauphine University. More than 600 academic papers were presented and discussed in various topical research sessions on financial accounting, corporate governance, and business taxation. Gerrit
Lietz presented the working paper entitled Does
Corporate Tax Avoidance Impair Earnings Informativeness? (co-authored by Adrian Kubata and
Christoph Watrin), Martin Thomsen discussed work
on The Impact of Taxes on Location Deci-

sions (with Robert Ullmann and Christoph Watrin),

and Tim Wagener received valuable feedback on a
joint project labelled Cash Tax Deferral and its Relation to Permanent Tax Avoidance (with Adrian
Kubata and Christoph Watrin).
AAA Annual Meeting (Anaheim)
Between August 3 and 7, this years annual meeting
of the American Accounting Association AAA
brought together over a thousand conference participants from around the globe in Anaheim to ex-

change ideas on issues in teaching and learning in

accounting. Under the common theme Brilliantly
Disguised Opportunities, academics presented
and discussed their research in progress on many
interesting aspects in accounting. Robert Ullmann
presented the paper The Impact of Taxes on Location Decisions, Tim Wagener his project Cash Tax
Deferral and its Relation to Permanent Tax Avoidance, and Gerrit Lietz presented Does Corporate
Tax Avoidance Impair Earnings Informativeness?.

2013 Research Conference Presentations

Authors

Working Paper Title

Occasion (Presenter)

A. Kubata,
G. Lietz,
and C. Watrin

Does Corporate Tax Avoidance Impair Earnings

Informativeness?

European Accounting Association, Paris (G. Lietz)

3rd Workshop on Current Research in Taxation (G. Lietz)
American Accounting Association, Anaheim (G. Lietz)

A. Kubata,
T. Wagener,
and C. Watrin

Cash Tax Deferral and its Relation to Permanent Tax

Avoidance

European Accounting Association, Paris (T. Wagener)

American Accounting Association, Anaheim (T. Wagener)

A. Kubata
and C. Watrin

Do Firms Manage Tax Positions Toward Desired

Levels?

European Accounting Association, Paris (A. Kubata)

M. Thomsen,
R. Ullmann,
and C. Watrin

Do Firms React to the Existence and Closing of Tax

Havens with Location Decisions?

Taxing Multinational Firms, Mannheim (R. Ullmann)

The Impact of Taxes on Location Decisions

European Accounting Association, Paris (M. Thomsen)

American Accounting Association, Anaheim (R. Ullmann)
3rd Workshop on Current Research in Taxation (M. Thomsen)
Illinois Symposium on Tax Research, Chicago (M. Thomsen)

R. Ullmann
and C. Watrin

A New Method to Discover Earnings Management

that Aims at Meeting (or Beating) Earnings Targets

German Academic Association for Business Research/

International Association for Accounting Education & Research, Annual Conference, Frankfurt (R. Ullmann)

U. v. Manowski

Worldwide Tax System vs. Territorial Tax System

Learnings from United Kingdom

European Accounting Association, Paris (U. v. Manowski)

T. Wagener
and C. Watrin

The Relevance of Complex Group Structures for

Income Shifting and Investors Valuation of Tax
Avoidance

National Taxation Association, Tampa (T. Wagener)

Taxing Multinational Firms, Mannheim (C. Watrin)

> Mnster Accounting Workshop Presentations

Anna Gold, associate professor at the school of economics and business administration
from the VU University Amsterdam (The Netherlands), held a workshop presentation in February to discuss a paper on Error Management in Audit Firms: Error Climate, Type and Originator (with Ulfert Gronewold and Steven E. Salterio). The study empirically investigates how
audit staff who discover and report errors in audit files are routinely treated in response to
reporting such errors. Results suggest office error-management climate (from relatively
blame-oriented to more open) can significantly affect error reporting and audit quality; further depending on contextual factors such as the error type (mechanical vs. conceptual) and originator (own vs. peer).
Wim van der Stede, CIMA professor of accounting and financial management and head of the
department of accounting at the London School of Economics (UK), kindly followed an invitation to Mnster this March to present a paper titled Strategy and Control: Findings from a SetTheoretical Analysis of High-Performance Manufacturing Firms (with David H. Erken). The
study introduces fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) as a set-theoretic method to overcome limitations inherent in other empirical methods often used to investigate
management control systems (MCSs). The authors demonstrate the general usefulness of
fsQCA to examine complex relations between MCSs and organizational variables, and provide evidence on
how MCSs combine with such variables, e.g. strategy, to result in high performance.
Daniel W. Collins, professor and director of the PhD program in accounting of the Henry B.
Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa (USA), visited our institute in July to present a current working paper on Financial Statement Comparability and the Efficiency of Acquisition Decisions. The empirical study, co-authored by Ciao-Wei Chen, Todd Kravet, and
Richard D. Mergenthaler, investigates whether acquiring firms make better acquisition decisions when target firms financial statements exhibit greater comparability with industry peer
firms. Results show that acquirers three-day returns and acquisition synergies are greater, and that postacquisition operating performance is better when targets financial statements are more comparable.
Ute Schmiel, professor and chair of the institute of corporate taxation at the University Duisburg Essen, attended the accounting workshop in December to discuss the potential of a
Unifying Research Approach toward Business Taxation. Embarking on the observation that
there are alternative research methods (e.g. empirical or hermeneutic), different perceptions
of the market (e.g. with respect to stochastic uncertainty), and various assumptions underlying a plurality of taxation-related hypotheses, the presenter suggests that a traditional neoclassic approach is only partly able to accommodate todays research questions and settings. In turn, an evolutionary approach to research, which better accommodates the different methods,
market perceptions, and underlying assumptions, should foster more consistent contemporary tax research.

Throughout the academic year, it has been a great pleasure for faculty and Ph.D. students to welcome excellent researchers in Mnster, to discuss their diverse and interesting work, and to benefit from their long- and outstanding experience in the field!

Completed Dissertations <

Corporate Tax Avoidance - Conceptual Framework, Determinants and Consequences, and Novel Evidence
With his cumulative dissertation, Gerrit Lietz presents
a comprehensive assessment of corporate tax avoidance research. His four individual studies foster an
advanced conceptual understanding, evaluate prior
findings on the determinants and consequences of tax
avoidance, and use empirical methods to provide novel evidence on the role of international tax information
exchange and on the association between tax avoidance and earnings informativeness.

measures are allocated to the tax constructs they most

adequately reflect. In sum, a sound conceptual foundation should be helpful in promoting consistent future research and allow for target-oriented inferences.
The second study (Determinants and Consequences
of Corporate Tax Avoidance) reviews the large body of
empirical literature on the determinants and consequences of corporate tax avoidance. Seminal contributions, as well as earlier-stage findings and emerging
trends are identified and discussed. The survey study
follows a topical structure reflecting the various, often
interdisciplinary, scopes of tax avoidance research.

The first study (Tax Avoidance vs. Tax Aggressiveness: A Unifying Conceptual Framework) proposes a
novel unifying conceptual framework of corporate tax
planning. Based on the seminal noDr. Gerrit Lietz, born 1984 in Hamburg, studied Business and Economics
tion of global effective tax planning
with majors in Accounting, Taxation, and International Management at
(Scholes and Wolfson), the framethe University of Mnster. After graduating in 2009 he began as a research assistant at the Insitute of Accounting and Taxation. He visited the
work accommodates the constructs
Henry B. Tippie College of Business (University of Iowa) as a Ph.D. Stuof tax avoidance, tax aggressivedent in 2012.
ness, tax evasion, and tax sheltering. As a useful reference point to delineate nonOverall, despite rapid progress of the literature, the
aggressive from aggressive tax avoidance, the framedeterminants and consequences of corporate tax
work suggests the more-likely-than-not (MLTN) probaavoidance are still not well understood. Consequently,
bility of a tax transaction being legally sustainable
an encompassing goal of this study is to reveal opporupon potential audit. This benchmark is discussed in
tunities for fruitful future research based on (but not
detail, also in the light of alternative approaches that
limited to) recent developments in the empirical archival tax avoidance literature.

20 November 2013

can be identified in the literature. Subsequently, the

study provides a thorough discussion of commonly
applied and recently proposed empirical measures of
explicit tax planning. Definitions are tabulated and
each proxys strengths and weaknesses evaluated.
Lastly, to provide methodological guidance, major

The third study (Do Tax Information Exchange Agreements Affect the Extent and Riskiness of Multinational
Firms Tax Avoidance), provides empirical evidence
on a so far unexplored determinant of tax avoidance.
The study exploits data on the conclusion of OECDpromoted tax information exchange agreements
(TIEAs), which are intended to improve the flow of taxation-relevant information between jurisdictions, in
particular with tax haven countries. Results are consistent with increased cooperation efforts between tax
authorities restricting multinational firms tax avoidance. Analyses further yield weak evidence for TIEA
enforcement leading firms to engage in less risky tax
avoidance.
The fourth study (Does Corporate Tax Avoidance Impair Earnings Informativeness?) is motivated in the
context of prior literature, which generally provides
mixed evidence on the potential capital market conse-

> Completed Dissertations

quences of corporate tax avoidance. This study is the

first to empirically investigate the association between
tax avoidance and earnings informativeness, a wellstudied earnings quality dimension within the empirical accounting and capital markets literature.
It is here assumed that sophisticated tax avoidance in
large corporate groups may entail considerable complexities, eventually affecting reported earnings ability to provide decision-useful information to investors.
Conducting cross-sectional tests on U.S. corporate
data between 1993 and 2012, the study predicts and
finds a negative association between tax avoidance
and earnings informativeness, as measured by the
Earnings Response Coefficient (ERC).

Contributing to the current debate on multinational

firms extensive income shifting to low-tax jurisdictions, the second study (Do Multinational Firms Use
Complex Group Structures to Facilitate Income Shifting
and Repatriation?) investigates whether European
multinational firms make use of complex group structures to exploit international tax rate differences. Prior
literature has shown that multinational firms increase

Tax Avoidance and Complex Group Structures

The cumulative thesis of Tim Wagener uses empirical
methods to examine different research questions from
the field of corporate tax avoidance and includes four
studies.

10 July 2013

the extent of income shifting in response to tax incentives to shift income. However, little is known about
The first study (Cash Tax Deferral and its Relation to
the process of income shifting itself. By developing a
Permanent Tax Avoidance) contributes to a general
new index measure of a groups legal complexity covframework of corporate tax avoidance research by difering the dimensions number of subsidiaries, ownerferentiating between permanent and temporary tax
ship chain length, cross-country ownership links, and
planning. It analyzes the differential firm characterisuse of holdings, the study examines
Dr. Tim Wagener, born 1984 in Moers, graduated from the Mnster
the role of group complexity in the
Schoolf of Business and Economics in 2009 with majors in Finance, Acincome shifting process. Using a
counting, and Taxation. He spent an exchange semester in France in
2008/09 at the Ecole Suprieure de Commerce de Montpellier and was a
sample of European multinational
Visiting Ph.D. Student at the Foster School of Business (University of
firms, the study finds that group
Washington) in 2011.
complexity is significantly and positively associated with different proxies for tax incentics that both types are associated with and investitives within the corporate group.
gates how permanent tax planning is related to temporary tax planning. Using a sample of U.S. firm-year observations, the study documents a negative relationship between both types of tax planning. This finding
is supported in two alternative approaches to measure
tax deferral. Overall, the study suggests that firms
trade off the costs against the benefits of the two
types relative to each other, in addition to cost-benefit
considerations that are made separately for each type.

10

The third study (Investor Valuation of Tax Avoidance

in Complex Firms) builds on this evidence and examines the consequences of the use of complex group
structures. Specifically, it investigates whether group
complexity influences the value premium that investors place on corporate tax avoidance. Prior literature
has shown that investors generally value tax avoidance positively in well-governed firms. The agency

Completed Dissertations <

view of corporate tax avoidance, however, suggests

tries with high book-tax conformity) are associated
that tax planning involving the use of complex strucwith more downward earnings management. In two
tures may lead to agency costs. The study provides a
further studies she evaluates to what extent the taxadirect test of the existence of such agency costs by
tion and accounting of subsidiaries influence taxation
examining whether investors value tax avoidance difand accounting at the group level.
ferently when it is accompanied by complex group
The first study (Book-Tax Conformity and Earnings
structures. Consistent with the agency view, the study
Management: Insights from European One- and Twofinds that complexity, measured by the complexity
Book Systems) investigates whether book-tax conindex developed in the second study, negatively influformity influences earnings management. Empirical
ences the relationship between tax
avoidance and firm value for a samDr. Nadine Ebert, born 1984 in Koblenz, majored in Finance and Taxation
ple of European multinational firms.
at the Mnster School of Business and Economics and graduated in the
summer of 2009. She studied abroad at the Manchester Business School

The fourth study (GAAP ETR Man(UK) between 2006 and 2007 . In October 2013 she picked up work as a
tax consultant for PwC in Osnabrck.
agement to Beat Relevant Thresholds) investigates whether firms
use discretion over accounting earnings to manage a
results suggest that firms in a one-book system (i.e.,
ratio that serves to evaluate the quality of a firms tax
firms facing high book-tax conformity) exhibit relativeplanning: the effective tax rate (GAAP ETR). Specifically more earnings management. In particular, these
ly, it investigates whether firms actively manage their
firms show more downward earnings management
GAAP ETR to fall below important reference points. The
compared to firms facing lower book-tax conformity
study argues that these GAAP ETR reference points
may represent desirable outcomes for the firm, in addition to earnings targets which are likely of first-order
importance. Employing a frequency distribution approach, the study finds evidence consistent with USbased firms managing their GAAP ETR toward round
values, without necessarily beating them. The study
also shows that firms are most likely to use discretion
over the deferred tax expense to achieve their GAAP
ETR target values. Further, the findings indicate that
GAAP ETR management is less prevalent in a period
24 April 2013
after the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley-Act, which
increased the costs of making arbitrary adjustments to
(two-book system). Therefore, firms facing a tradeoff
the tax expense.
between reporting high earnings for capital markets
and reporting low earnings for tax savings seem to
The Influence of Group Structures on
consider tax incentives more compared to firms which
do not face this tradeoff. While using European data,
Accounting Decisions
this study is able to draw conclusions for the question
In her cumulative dissertation, Nadine Ebert analyzes
whether the U.S. should change from a two-book to a
the effect of group structures on accounting decisions
one-book system.
of multinational firms. With her four papers she evaluates prior research and detects new areas for further
The second study (Multinationale Unternehmen und
studies. Additionally, she provides empirical evidence
Besteuerung - Aktueller Stand der betriebswirtschaftlithat firms under a one-book system (i.e., firms in counchen Forschung) is published in Steuer und Wirt-

11

> Completed Dissertations

schaft (StuW 4/2013, p. 298-318) and reviews the

literature on multinational firms and their taxation.
While in some areas of study, researchers agree on a
certain result, in other areas of research the results
even seem to be contradicting. One example for a controversial topic is the question whether national or
multinational firms pay more taxes. Although there is
already a large body of literature on multinationals and
their taxation, this study underlines that there is much
more literature to be expected within the next years.
The third study (The Impact of Single Entity Reporting
on Group-Level Earnings Management) provides empirical evidence on how the accounting behavior of
subsidiaries influences accounting decisions at the
group level. On the one hand, certain accounting rules
are specified by the parent company. On the other
hand, the accounting culture of subsidiaries in other
countries than that of the parent company could still
influence the exercise of options. The study shows that
groups in which the majority of the subsidiaries re-

ports according to IFRS exhibit more earnings management compared to groups with a mixed structure regarding the accounting standard at the subsidiary level.
The fourth study (How do Multinationals Use Subsidiaries for Tax Avoidance? Evidence from Europe) asks
if firms reduce their taxes by taking advantage of international tax rate differences. This question has not
been answered consistently in the previous literature.
Using firm-level data to examine the difference between the effective tax rates of parent companies and
their subsidiaries, the study shows that tax avoidance
by corporate groups is influenced not only by the statutory tax rate difference between parents and subsidiaries but also by other factors that constitute the tax
system as a whole. This finding suggests that the inconsistency in the previous results arises partially
from the fact that these studies only investigate the
differences in statutory tax rates, not effective tax
rates.

Excerpt of Institutes Working Papers available on

the Social Science Research Network (SSRN.com)

12

Authors

Working Paper Title

A. Kubata, G. Lietz,
and C. Watrin

Does Corporate Tax Avoidance Impair Earnings Informativeness?

G. Lietz

Determinants and Consequences of Corporate Tax

Avoidance

G. Lietz

Tax Avoidance vs. Tax Aggressiveness: A Unifying

Conceptual Framework

T. Wagener
and C. Watrin

GAAP ETR Management to Beat Relevant Thresholds

C. Watrin, N. Ebert,
and M. Thomsen

One-Book Versus Two-Book System: Learnings

from Europe

Completed Dissertations <

Visiting Scholars <

Professor Elisabetta Mafrolla, Professor Greg Jenkins, and Simona Jirskov
In 2013 we welcomed Professor Elisabetta Mafrolla from lUniversit di Foggia,
Italy, who joined our team to experience a scholarly term in Germany. Professor
Mafrolla provided unique insights, also by presenting her current work in progress
during brown bag seminars and many informal meetings with colleagues. Her current focus is on understanding the characteristics of tax planning in family-owned
firms. She also presented interesting empirical findings on the occasion of the 3 rd
EIASM Workshop on Current Research in Taxation in July.
Greg Jenkins, Professor of Accounting and Information Systems and the William S.
Gay Faculty Fellow at Virignia Tech, visited our Institute in Summer. It has been a
pleasure to have him and to exchange on current research projects.
Simona Jirskov from the VE University Prague, Czechia, came to us as a
visiting PhD student in 2013. She integrated neatly into our program and
surely got a lot out of her visit to our Business School. Faculty and PhD students all thought Simona greatly added to their experience and much enjoyed
having her visit our department.
We wish all our guests just the best for the future and hope to see them in
Mnster again, soon!
13

> Publications
Rose/Watrin Textbooks on Taxation: New Editions Released
In 2013, two of the five volumes of the
Rose/Watrin taxation textbook series
Betrieb & Steuern have been released in
revised and extended editions.
The long-standing comprehensive book
series, originally authored by Professor
Gerd Rose () in 1969 and later continued
by Professor Christoph Watrin, covers all
major areas of personal and corporate taxation.
Volume 1 Ertragsteuern (income taxes) is
now available in its 20th edition; Volume 2
Umsatzsteuer (value added tax) in its 18th
edition. The textbooks are published by
Erich Schmidt Publishing, Berlin.

Updated IFRS Commentary

Practice Journal Contributions

A number of chapters in Volume 1 IFRS of

the two-volume accounting
law commentary, edited by
Professor Christoph Watrin
together with Professor
Joachim Hennrichs and
Professor Detlef Kleindiek,
have been revised.

Eberhardt, David: Abkommensrechtliche Missbrauchsver-

Various experienced authors and practitioners

provide an updated commentation that takes
into account a number of recent developments as well as various annual improvements. For instance, these changes concern
the standards IFRS 1, (First-time Adoption),
IFRS 3 (Business Combinations), IFRS 4
(Insurance Contracts), IFRS 8 (Operating Segments), IAS 2 (Inventories), and IAS 39
(Financial Instruments: Recognition and
Measurement).

Watrin, Christoph/Eberhardt, David: Steuerliche Gestal-

14

meidung bei Investmentvermgen, IStR 2013, 377-386.

Watrin, Christoph/Eberhardt, David: Besteuerung von

Streubesitzdividenden und internationale Steuerplanung,
IStR 2013, 814-820.

Watrin, Christoph/Eberhardt, David: Ausschttungen im

System der Hinzurechnungsbesteuerung nach der Neufassung von 8b Abs. 4 KStG, DStR 2013, 2601-2607.
tungsoptionen der Beendigung des unternehmerischen
Engagements mittelstndischer Unternehmer, WiSt,
forthcoming.

Ebert, Nadine/Watrin, Christoph:

Multinationale Unternehmen und
Besteuerung - Aktueller Stand der
betriebswirtschaftlichen Forschung,
StuW 4/2013, 298-318

Ph.D. Seminars <

Joint Doctoral Seminar in Dsseldorf

Summer Ph.D. Seminar on Empirical Research

Every year, about 25 participants from the taxation

chairs of the universities of Dsseldorf, Freiburg,
and Mnster gather for a Ph.D. tax seminar. From
June 13 to 14, the fifth DFM Seminar was hosted by
Professor Guido Frster, holder of the Chair of Business Taxation at the University of Dsseldorf.

In 2013 for the sixth consecutive time, the Institute

invited two renowned U.S. professors to host the
three-day summer Ph.D. seminar on Empirical Research in Accounting & Taxation, in which students
have the opportunity to discuss seminal, published
accounting papers, but also to assess promising
work from top institutions currently in progress.
Participants this year hugely benefited from Prof.
Scott Dyrengs and Doug Shackelfords varied selection of seminar papers, their impressive expert
knowledge, and their personal lessons learned
when it comes to the - sometimes tough - academic
publication progress.

The seminar, which was held in the brand-new

oeconomicum-building on campus, involved
presentations on current research projects from the
field of tax and accounting, including both empirical
and normative work. Representing the Institute,
David Eberhardt analyzed the current challenges to
dividend taxation for corporations. Martin Thomsen
presented a research paper entitled Trade tax and
its determinants. Lively discussions provided the
authors with ideas on how the papers could be improved. In the evening, the seminar participants
met in the old town of Dsseldorf to enjoy an atmospheric dinner and some of the traditional bars
of Dsseldorf. Next years DFM seminar will take
place in Freiburg.

Past Summer Ph.D. Seminars on Accounting & Taxation

Year

Guest Lecturers

2008

Prof. Peter Frischmann

Idaho State University

Prof. Richard Startz

University of Washington, Seattle

2009

Prof. Peter Frischmann

2010

Prof. Terry Shevlin

Prof. Richard Startz

Idaho State University

University of Washington, Seattle

2011

Prof. Michelle Hanlon

MIT

Prof. Edward Maydew

University of North Carolina

2012

Prof. Jennifer Blouin

University of Pennsylvania
Prof. John Robinson

University of Texas at Austin

2013

Prof. Scott Dyreng

Duke University

Prof. Douglas Shackelford

University of North Carolina

15

> New Ph.D. Seminar

New Ph.D. Seminar on Empirical Tax Research

> PwC Tax Student Awards

The Insitute of Accounting and Taxation and PwC
honor students for their outstanding performance

A newly created Seminar Empirical Tax Research

has been successfully introduced to further enhance our Business Schools structured Ph.D. program. The seminar in particular complements the
Seminar Accounting Theory, launched in 2012.
The tax seminar is designed to introduce Ph.D. students (and interested Master students) to empirical
tax research in accounting. In weekly meetings, students first win an overview of the vast area of empirical tax research and learn to understand the need
for further research. Participants then explore basic
research design issues that must be considered in
the planning and conducting of empirical research.
With this foundation, numerous empirical papers
are analyzed and evaluated in detail.

In April and October, our traditional Semester Openings took place within the premises of the Business
School. As in prior years, we also formally invited
Bachelor- and Master students who performed exceptionally well in their tax courses final exams. In
co-operation with PwC, the best ten students of
each tax class were honored with the
PwC Outstanding Tax Student Award.
Thorsten Hunkenschrder,
partner at PwC Osnabrck, Dr.
Stefan Mense, senior tax manager, as well as several young
professionals joined the
Events to answer questions
about possible internships,
career opportunities and the
daily business at their Big 4accounting firm.

Key elements of this seminar include developing

an appreciation for the role of theory in
applied work,
an understanding of research designs
commonly used in accounting and corporate finance research,
the necessary skills to design and conduct empirical research, and
skills to identify a marketable project.

16

Altogether, more than 60 students each Semester Opening

gathered to receive their
awards, network with each
other, and get in touch with
Professor Watrin and his Institutes team of doctoral students in a relaxed atmosphere.

We are already excited to welcome the next cohort

of students to our next Semester Opening in April!

Course Program in 2013 <

Master
Module International Taxation:
Lecture and Tutorial
Module Advanced Taxation:
Tax Accounting, Inheritance Tax,
Tax Management Act
Module Seminar on Accounting I/II:
Major Seminars on Taxation
Module Advanced Accounting on Specific Topics I:
International Operations Simulation (INTOP)

Dr. Ansas Wittkowski, partner at LeMaitre Taxperience in Munich

and Ph.D. alumnus of our Institute, is a specialist in the field of
international taxation, advising multinational groups on crossborder and M&A-related tax topics. Dr. Wittkowski currently
lectures the Master module International Taxation.

Steffen Gnutzmann and Robert Welzel, partners at WTS in Hamburg and Frankfurt, cohosted the Master Seminar Accounting I.
Participating students much welcomed the
particular topical focus tax aspects in asset
management.

Dr. Stefan Mense, senior manager with PwC Osnabrck, colectured this years Seminar Accounting II, which plays a central
role in our Tax Masters curriculum. Based on his notable professional and academic experience, Dr. Mense covered a wide
range of interesting aspects relating to corporate taxation.

Dr. Carsten Hink, executive director at AWB Mnster, has worked for many years in the field of value added tax services and
has extensive experience in advising international clients on
transfer tax related issues. Dr. Hink shared his knowledge by
teaching the module Advanced Taxation: Transaction Tax.

Frank Nordhoff, tax manager at KPMG in Dortmund, was in

charge of the lecture Taxes on Income, which forms part of the
Bachelor module Advanced Taxation. Mr. Nordhoff kindly
shared his knowledge on the various tax consequences that
result from corporate splits, mergers, or changes in legal form.

Ph.D. Program
Ph.D. Seminar Accounting Theory
Capital market-based empirical accounting
research

Bachelor
Module Financial Accounting and Taxation:
Principles of Corporate Taxation

Module Advanced Taxation:

Transaction Tax
Taxes on Income

Module Finance and Accounting Seminar:

International Operations Simulation (INTOP)
Finance and Accounting Case Study Seminar

Key Qualifications:
Business and Intercultural Communication

Dr. Rainer Braun, judge at the Fiscal Court Cologne, dedicatedly

held his lectures on general fiscal law and the Tax Management
Act and in summer. Students favor Dr. Brauns long-standing
course offering a lot, not least for its great practice-relevance
with respect to a future career as a certified tax advisor.

Ph.D. Seminar Empirical Tax Research

Introduction to empirical tax research in
accounting
Ph.D. Summer Seminar Empirical Research in
Accounting and Taxation
Co-chaired by Prof. Scott Dyreng and
Prof. Douglas Shackelford

17

> VT Summer School

Summer School with Virginia Tech
For the third time in 2013, the Mnster Institute of
Accounting and Taxation organized a Summer
School in cooperation with the Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia
(Virginia Tech).
44 American students
and their instructors
were kindly welcomed
and hosted in Mnster
as part of their Study
Abroad program Doing
Business in Europe,
organized by VT Professor Debra Salbador. In
exchange, a number of
Mnster students was
sent to Virginia Tech for
an academic term.
VT students in Mnster
attended classes held
by Professor Jason
Malone from Virginia
Tech and Professor Jay
Teets from Coastal Carolina University. Since
the accommodation with students from Mnster
was well received the previous year, our American
guests once more had the opportunity to be accommodated with students from Mnster. This offered
them the chance to better experience the German
culture and to make friends with their hosts.
The Summer School gives students from Mnster
the unique possibility of an intercultural exchange
while attending the course Business and Intercultural Communication, held by Hugo van Bremen,

18

jointly with the American

visitors. The class was
enriched by guest lectures held by the entrepreneurs Uwe Rotermund
(noventum consulting)
and Jens Rttgering (Hengst). In addition, a German
language course was offered to improve the students language skills.
A business trip was
offered for the visiting
students that offered
insights into German
industries and production processes with site
visits at Mercedes Benz in Bremen and Meyer Werft
in Papenburg. Over the weekends, US students had
plenty of time to explore interesting destinations in
Germany and acros Europe such as the cities of Berlin, Amsterdam and Rome.
Moreover, students enjoyed Mnsters student life
during summer, with a scavenger hunt, a pub crawl
(both organized by the student representatives),
and a goodbye-event at a German brewery pub.
We are looking forward to welcome Virginia Tech
students for the fourth Summer School in 2014!

For more information visit

http://www.international.pamplin.vt.edu/
studyabroad/dijon/

INTOP Seminar <

International Operations Simulation (INTOP)

INTOP once again enjoyed huge popularity among

students. The Finance and Accounting Seminar elective provides both Bachelor and Master students
with an enhanced understanding of the problems of
international business operations in general, and
multinational enterprises in particular.
The complex computer-based simulation integrates
a large number of diverse factors in the functional
areas of marketing, production, investment and
acquisition, finance, research and development,
accounting, taxation and controlling.
Students are interactively confronted with the task
of efficiently organizing their teamwork as to agree
on business objectives and reasonable operational
decisions.
Traditionally, the winter term seminar culminated in
a one-week skiing seminar in Mallnitz, Austria,
where student groups competed in several rounds
of INTOP and also held their final presentations to
explain their businesses evolution.
Combined with the welcoming atmosphere of the
Eggerhof and easy-to-reach skiing resorts in the
area, the trip provided an excellent blend of coursework, alpine sports, aprs ski, and leisure time!
For many years, this exceptional event is only realizable due to the generous support of Norbert Graetz
and his great team at Deloitte & Touche, Dsseldorf. We greatly appreciate the on-going sponsoring
and look forward to meeting again in 2014!

19

> Postgraduate Programs

> Research Center

JurGrad and CUR EMBA-Programs

Research Center Business and Taxes

In 2013, Professor Watrin, Dr. Kubata, Dr. Lietz, and

Dr. Ullmann taught several courses in a range of
executive programs, including Financial Accounting and Controlling, Mergers and Acquisitions,
Tax Accounting, Private Wealth
Management and Business
Law, offered by the JurGrad
School of Tax and Business Law
and the Centre for Corporate Accounting, CUR.

The

Students enrolled in the JurGrad

programs can either earn a
Master of Business Administration (EMBA) or Master of
Laws (LL.M.) from the University
of Mnster, depending on their
educational background.
Participants in CUR can either pursue an Executive MBA in Business Management
or in Accounting and Controlling, respectively. All
programs come in structured, content-related modules and are complemented by various tutorials
held in smaller groups. All executive programs are
accredited by the AACSB and other institutions.

Christoph Watrin, Jrg Baetge and Wolfgang Berens, founders and lecturing Professors of the Centre for Corporate Accounting (CUR)

www.wiwi.uni-muenster.de/cur
www.uni-muenster-llm.de

20

Research

Center

Business

and

Taxes

(Forschungsstelle Unternehmen und Steuern), which

was recently co-founded by professors of the Mnster
School of Business and Economics and the Mnster
Law School, invited to its second and third meeting in
2013. The topics discussed were Operating Assets,
Inheritance and Accessions Tax (June) and
Economic and Legal Challenges to Regional Free
Trade Agreements (November).
The Research Center is dedicated to an interdisciplinary approach to current issues in corporate tax law,
bringing together academics and interested parties
from economics, business administration, and law.
In February 2014, Professor Lars P. Feld will speak on
Fiscal Policy Challenges in times of the Euro-Crisis
(Herausforderungen an die Fiskalpolitik in Zeiten der
Euro-Krise).

Sponsoring Partners <

We appreciate the genorous support from our partners:

Society for the Promotion of Accounting and Taxation <

The Society for the Promotion of Accounting and Taxation (Frderkreis Rechnungslegung und Steuern e.V.)
was founded in 2005 by Professor Watrin and his research assistants of the Institute of Accounting and Taxation at the University of Mnster.
The Society is dedicated to the promotion of excellence in research and teaching in
the fields of financial accounting and business taxation. It supports a sophisticated
interaction between theoretical and practical work and fosters the exchange of academic and professional practice experience. The society honors distinguished
achievements in research and promotes the publication of promising contributions.
Graduate students of the business school are provided with opportunities to get in touch with practitioners
to facilitate entry to their professional careers.
Society for the Promotion of Accounting and Taxation
(Frderkreis Rechnungslegung und Steuern e.V.)
Universittsstr. 14-16
48143 Mnster
Tel.: +49 251 83 22880
Fax: +49 251 83 21824
E-Mail: foerderkreis@frs-muenster.de

Web: http://www.frs-muenster.de
21

> Impressions
Wiwi-CUP 2013

Sportfreunde Steuern 65
KPMGs International
Case Competition 2013/2014

Team MIAT: Robert Wilke, Sven Schneider,

Lukas Schwind, and Oliver Wtjen

22

2013 Doctoral Celebration - Deans speech

INTOP - Champions 2013

2013 Mnster Institute of Accounting and Taxation

From left to right: Martin Thomsen, Nikola Frieburg, Dr. Tim Wagener, Antje Messink, Sven Tietz, Fabian Riegler, David Eberhardt,
Britta Heitmann, Dr. Gerrit Lietz, Dr. Adrian Kubata, Prof. Dr. Christoph Watrin.

www.iub-muenster.de

www.iub-muenster.de

Institute of Accounting and Taxation

Prof. Dr. Christoph Watrin
University of Mnster
Universittsstr. 14-16
48143 Mnster
Tel.: +49 251 83 22880
Fax: +49 251 83 21824
iub@wiwi.uni-muenster.de