The Münster Institute of Accounting and Taxation specialises in research in the areas of business taxation, capital market-oriented accounting and corporate governance, which are briefly presented below.

1. Business Taxation

The task of business taxation is to examine the incentive effects of tax regulations, to analyse the tax planning of companies and to make normative suggestions for improving tax law. According to Scholes/Wolfson, tax planning encompasses all parties to a transaction, all taxes (including implicit taxes) and all costs (including non-tax costs of tax planning).

The Institute focuses on the following topics:

• Tax structuring activities of national and multinational companies
• Capital market effects and other effects of tax planning
• Tax information in annual financial statements

We also deal with current developments in tax legislation and case law.

2. Financial Accounting

External accounting serves the purpose of documentation, information for investors and other stakeholders and the assessment of payments.

The focus is on the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

In our research we analyse

• the accounting policy of company management
• capital market reactions to accounting information
• the role of the auditor and other enforcement institutions

The consequences of international accounting for the determination of taxable profits in Germany and Europe also play an important role.

3. Corporate Governance

The discussion on accounting is closely linked to the debate on auditing, which has repeatedly fallen into a crisis of confidence in recent years. Methodologically, auditing is analysed as part of the broader corporate governance debate using recent microeconomic approaches.

If you have any questions about individual research projects or suggestions for research co-operation, please do not hesitate to contact us.