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Personal website online now
Published:
My personal website went online today. I will periodically share news and perhaps do some blogging here. Stay tuned.
german_pubs
Experimentelle Erkenntnisse zu menschlichem Verhalten in Budgetverhandlungen
Published in Zeitschrift für Controlling & Management , 2009
Die Budgetierungspraxis wird seit Jahren kritisiert und kaum ein Unternehmen kommt umhin, diesen zentralen Steuerungsprozess immer wieder zu adjustieren…
Recommended citation: Schaeffer, U., Kramer, S. (2010). Experimentelle Erkenntnisse zu menschlichem Verhalten in Budgetverhandlungen. Zeitschrift für Controlling & Management 53(4), 254-256. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257772994_Experimentelle_Erkenntnisse_zu_menschlichem_Verhalten_in_Budgetverhandlungen
Operative Planung. Funktionen, Umsetzung und Einflussfaktoren
Published in Die Betriebswirtschaft, 2009
Recommended citation: Weber, J., Nevries, P., Breiter, D., Jeschonowski, Kramer, S. (2009). Operative Planung. Funktionen, Umsetzung und Einflussfaktoren. Schriftenreihe Advanced Controlling, Wiley, Weinheim.
Rechnungslegungsforschung in deutschsprachigen wissenschaftlichen Zeitschriften. Eine Publikationsanalyse
Published in Die Betriebswirtschaft, 2010
Der Beitrag analysiert die Entwicklung der Rechnungslegungsforschung in vier führenden deutschsprachigen wissenschaftlichen Zeitschriften im Zeitraum von 1949 bis 2007…
Recommended citation: Perrey, E., Schaeffer, U., Kramer, S. (2010). Rechnungslegungsforschung in deutschsprachigen wissenschaftlichen Zeitschriften. Eine Publikationsanalyse. Die Betriebswirtschaft 70(6), 481-494. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264057339_Rechnungslegungsforschung_in_deutschsprachigen_wissenschaftlichen_Zeitschriften_Eine_Publikationsanalyse
portfolio
Portfolio item number 1
Short description of portfolio item number 1
Portfolio item number 2
Short description of portfolio item number 2
practitioner_pubs
Can neuroscience inform management accountants?
Published in Financial Management, 2012
It may sound incredible to management accountants, but we are on the brink of a revolution in the science of economics and business. While economics and business are beginning to recognize the advantages that neuroscientific evidence brings to understanding the behaviour of people in firms and markets, our pilot study into the management accounting prospects of neuroscience to enrich and validate its role in organizations indicates that its potential contribution to management accounting knowledge could be huge…
Recommended citation: Bosman, C., Dalla Via, N., Hartmann, F., Kramer, S., Slapnicar, S. (2012). Can neuroscience inform management accountants? Financial Management. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281122343_Can_neuroscience_inform_management_accountants
The fairness perception of bonus payment allocations
Published in RSM Discovery - Management Knowledge, 2015
It is difficult to overestimate the importance of fairness in the link- ing of individual and collective effort to remuneration in a com- mercial enterprise. Arguably just as important is the perception of fairness on the part of the individual being remunerated…
Recommended citation: Kramer, S. (2015). The fairness perception of bonus payment allocations. RSM Discovery - Management Knowledge 24 (4), 15-16. https://pure-accept.eur.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/47634872/p15-16-RSMDiscovery24.pdf
Performance evaluations and control system design
Published in RSM Discovery - Management Knowledge, 2017
The accuracy of information available to managers about an employee`s performance, combined with the transparency of performance evaluations based on that information, can help to motivate managers to reward good performance and highlight poor performance….
Recommended citation: Kramer, S. (2017). Performance evaluations and control system design. RSM Discovery - Management Knowledge 29 (1), 10-11. https://repub.eur.nl/pub/98612/p10-11-PerformanceEvaluation-SKramer.pdf
Peer performance and budgetary targets
Published in Strategic Finance, 2021
Using past peer performance benchmarks can be an effective way to set annual performance targets, but it might discourage cooperation among business units…
Recommended citation: Holzhacker, M., Kramer, S., & Matejka, M. (2021). Peer performance and budgetary targets. Strategic Finance https://www.sfmagazine.com/articles/2021/december/peer-performance-and-budgetary-targets/?psso=true
publications
How top-down and bottom-up budgeting affect budget slack and performance through social and economic exchange
Published in Abacus, 2014
This paper investigates the effects of a top‐down (TD) versus bottom‐up (BU) orientation in different stages of the budgetary target‐setting process on slack and managerial performance. We use social exchange theory to explain the outcomes of these alternative budgetary arrangements, and complement the traditional focus on budgetary participation in target setting with a process‐oriented perspective. We develop hypotheses predicting that TD and BU orientations in the subsequent stages of the budgeting process have different effects on managers’ exchange relationships with the firm, and their behavioural responses. Using survey evidence from German managers across 127 firms we find that a TD orientation in the issuance of guidelines enhances economic exchange and that a BU orientation in the development of the initial budget proposal enhances social exchange, which in turn are associated with …
Recommended citation: Kramer, S., & Hartmann, F. (2014). How top-down and bottom-up budgeting affect budget slack and performance through social and economic exchange. Abacus 50(3), 314-340. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/abac.12032
Fairness perceptions of annual bonus payments: The effects of subjective performance measures and the achievement of bonus targets - Recipient of the David Solomons Prize for the best article in Management Accounting Research 2016
Published in Management Accounting Research, 2016
This study investigates how the weight on subjective performance measures and the achievement of bonus targets affect managers’ distributive and procedural fairness perceptions of annual bonus contracts. We argue that the effect of subjectivity on fairness perceptions follows an inverted U-shaped relationship, consistent with the idea that subjectivity increases fairness perceptions when the overall emphasis on subjective measures is relatively low, but that subjectivity decreases fairness perceptions when the overall emphasis on subjective measures is relatively high. We further argue that managers use bonus targets as referent standards, whose achievement increases perceptions of distributive fairness, but not of procedural fairness. We use a time-ordered cross-sectional survey study design to separate the measurement of ex ante contract characteristics from the measurement of actual bonus payments and …
Recommended citation: Voußem, L., Kramer, S., & Schäffer, U. (2016). Fairness perceptions of annual bonus payments: The effects of subjective performance measures and the achievement of bonus targets. Management Accounting Research 30, 32-46. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1044500515300019
How control system design affects performance evaluation compression: The role of information accuracy and outcome transparency
Published in Accounting, Organizations and Society, 2016
Prior research has shown that managers tend to compress ratings when subjectively evaluating employees and that such compression can have negative organizational consequences. We reason that organizations can use the design of their control system to influence the personal costs and benefits associated with managers’ rating decisions and thus shape managers’ rating behavior. Based on findings from prior literature, we focus on the effects of two control system design elements: the accuracy of the information on which managers need to base their evaluations and the transparency about performance evaluation outcomes. We hypothesize that increasing information accuracy will increase the extent to which managers differentiate between stronger and weaker employees, but only when there is transparency about evaluation outcomes. Our experimental data support this hypothesis, and we discuss the …
Recommended citation: Bol, J. C., Kramer, S., & Maas, V. S. (2016). How control system design affects performance evaluation compression: The role of information accuracy and outcome transparency. Accounting, Organizations and Society 51, 64-73. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361368216300010
Relative performance information, rank ordering and employee performance: A research note
Published in Management Accounting Research, 2016
We conduct a laboratory experiment to examine whether the provision of detailed relative performance information (i.e., information about the specific performance levels of peers) affects employee performance. We also investigate how – if at all – explicit ranking of performance levels affects how employees respond to relative performance information. Our hypotheses are developed based on insights about social comparisons and status incentives from the psychology and behavioral economics literature. The results of the experiment show that the provision of relative performance information increases employee performance, yet we find no additional effects of rank ordering. Specifically, average performance levels are similar in conditions in which relative performance figures are presented in random order, in best-to-worst order and in worst-to-best order.
Recommended citation: Kramer, S., Maas, V. S., & Van Rinsum, M. (2016). Relative performance information, rank ordering and employee performance: A research note. Management Accounting Research 33, 16-24. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1044500516300026
Relative target setting and cooperation
Published in Journal of Accounting Research, 2019
A large stream of work on relative performance evaluation highlights the benefits of using information about peer performance in contracting. In contrast, the potential costs of discouraging cooperation among peers have received much less attention. The purpose of our study is to examine how the importance of cooperation affects the use of information about peer performance in target setting, also known as relative target setting. Specifically, we use data from an industrial services company where business unit managers need to share specialized equipment and staff with their peers to manage bottlenecks in their capacity. We construct several empirical proxies for the costs and benefits of information about peer performance and examine their effects on target setting. We find robust evidence that the sensitivity of target revisions to past peer performance is higher when peer group performance has greater …
Recommended citation: Holzhacker, M., Kramer, S., Matějka, M., & Hoffmeister, N. (2019). Relative target setting and cooperation. Journal of Accounting Research 57(1), 211-239. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1475-679X.12244
Selective attention as a determinant of escalation bias in subjective performance evaluation judgments
Published in Behavioral Research in Accounting, 2020
We use an experiment to examine escalation bias in subjective performance evaluations. Participants assume the role of manager and evaluate the performance of an employee based on a balanced-scorecard-type performance report. We manipulate whether managers recommended positively or negatively about the evaluated employee’s promotion to his current position. Consistent with the presence of escalation bias, we find that managers give higher performance ratings to employees about whom they advised positively than to employees about whom they advised negatively. Using eye-tracking data, we investigate whether escalation bias arises because managers with different prior commitments toward the evaluated employee pay attention to different items in the scorecard. We find that evaluators’ prior recommendation does not affect what proportion of their visual attention is given to favorable…
Recommended citation: Kramer, S., & Maas, V. S. (2020). Selective attention as a determinant of escalation bias in subjective performance evaluation judgments. Behavioral Research in Accounting 32(1), 87-100. https://publications.aaahq.org/bria/article-abstract/32/1/87/6894/Selective-Attention-as-a-Determinant-of-Escalation?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Disturbing the quiet life? Competition and CEO incentives
Published in The Accounting Review, 2023
Although it is well understood that product market competition acts as a disciplining mechanism that reduces inefficiencies, our understanding of the implications for firms’ incentive design choices is still limited. We use a comprehensive new measure of competition and examine its effect on four major choices: CEO equity portfolio incentives, annual bonus plan incentives, choice of performance measures, and difficulty of financial performance targets. We find that competition reduces firm profits and total CEO compensation, including equity grants, which then also weakens portfolio incentives. Firms respond by adjusting annual bonus plans to restore incentives. Specifically, we find that competition goes together with stronger bonus plan incentives, more challenging annual performance targets, and a greater emphasis on long-term performance measures. Finally, we show that competition increases performance relative to annual bonus targets, which we interpret as evidence that CEOs work harder but get paid less in highly competitive environments.
Recommended citation: Kramer, S., & Matejka, M. (forthcoming). Disturbing the quiet life? Competition and CEO incentives. The Accounting Review.
Navigating Through the Noise: The Effect of Color-Coded Performance Feedback on Decision Making
Published in Contemporary Accounting Research, 2024
Many companies use color codes in their internal performance reports to highlight how current performance compares to performance in a previous period. We examine whether the use of color coding affects managers’ decision making in a resource allocation task. We argue that managers’ decision accuracy will be lower if they receive noisier feedback, but that this detrimental effect of noise can be mitigated through color coding. Using two experiments, we find evidence consistent with our theory. Managers who receive reports in which performance increases are color coded green and performance decreases are color coded red are less affected by noise than managers who receive feedback reports without color coding. Supplemental analyses suggest that color coding induces managers to process feedback in a more holistic manner, which reduces the adverse effect of noise on managers’ learning processes. Our findings have several important implications for research and practice.
Recommended citation: Cardinaels, E., Kramer, S., & Maas, V. (forthcoming). Navigating Through the Noise: The Effect of Color-Coded Performance Feedback on Decision Making. Contemporary Accounting Research.
talks
Research presentation
Published:
Research presentation given at the University of Bern, Switzerland.
Research presentation
Published:
Research presentation given at the KU Leuven, Belgium.
Research presentation
Published:
Research presentation given at Maastricht University, Netherlands.
KPN winnaar financiële innovatieprijs IMA
Published:
KPN has won the financial innovation prize, the annual Corporate Recognition Award from the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). Stephan Kramer, Associate Professor in the Department of Accounting and Control at RSM, was part of the advisory board for the prize…
Research presentation
Published:
Research presentation given at the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Research presentation
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Research presentation given at Tilburg University, Netherlands.
Sluiten control- en accountingopleidingen aan op de toekomst?
Published:
Starters met een Master’s in Accounting hebben de beste positie op de arbeidsmarkt, aldus het het UWV. Maar het Institute of Management Accountants waarschuwt in het Financieele Dagblad dat veel toekomstige finance-professionals onvoldoende op de ‘digitale toekomst’ worden voorbereid. De professoren Frank Verbeeten (Amsterdam Business School), Alexander Brüggen (Maastricht University), Stephan Kramer (Rotterdam School of Management) spreken zich uit…
Research presentation
Published:
Research presentation given at Monash University.
Research presentation
Published:
Research presentation given at INSEAD, France.
Research presentation
Published:
Research presentation given at WU Vienna, Austria.
Erasmus Accounting Workshop 2023
Published:
We are pleased to announce the third edition of the Erasmus Accounting Workshop, to be held on Friday, 17 March 2023 (CET). This event features the work of four researchers from top schools, and aims to foster and strengthen the network of scholars around the world.
Erasmus Accounting Workshop 2024
Published:
We are pleased to announce the fourth edition of the Erasmus Accounting Workshop, to be held on Friday, 05 April 2024 (CET). This event features the work of four researchers from top schools, and aims to foster and strengthen the network of scholars around the world.
Podcast Episode
Published:
Podcast episode of “The CFO podcast” with Michel van den Bogaard, CFO at Signicat.
teaching
Enterprise Risk Management for Executives
Executive education, Erasmus University, 2011
Master theses
Master, Erasmus University, 2011-present
Research Methods for Executives
Executive education, Erasmus University, 2011
Accounting Information Systems
Master, Erasmus University, 2011
Accounting Fraud and Forensic Investigations
Bachelor, Erasmus University, 2012-2014, 2018
Management Control
Master, Erasmus University, 2012
International Finance and Control
Master, Erasmus University, 2012
Management Accounting
Bachelor, Erasmus University, 2015-2018
Controllership
Master, Erasmus University, 2015-2018
Financial Decision Making and Control
Master, Erasmus University, 2018-present
Managerial Accounting for Executives
Executive MBA, University of Cologne and Erasmus University, 2019-present
Predictive Financial Analytics
Executive education, Erasmus University, 2022-present
Management Accounting
Bachelor, Erasmus University, 2022-present