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  • Presentation on Sustainability Reporting Regulations
    Professor Katrin Hummel had the opportunity to present the regulation of sustainability reporting in the EU to Swiss business representatives at  XBRL Schweiz general meeting. 

  • Community of Practice Sustainability Reporting & Steering
    The community of practice "Sustainability Reporting and Steering" had an inspiring and insightful meeting at Österreichische Post AG. We delved deep into ESG data management with excellent insights from Harald Hagenauer, Bettina Paulusch, and Alexander Kirchlechner, followed by fruitful discussions on specific challenges. A big thank you to all participants, especially Österreichische Post AG for hosting this meeting, and to Catharina Ahmadi and Rita Niedermayr for keeping the community vibrant and active!

  • EAA Congress 2024
    Professor Katrin Hummel and Dominik Jobst attended the EAA Congress 2024 held in Bucharest.

    Highlights: 

    • Insightful sessions on recent topics in the area of sustainability reporting

    •  Lots of opportunities to catch-up with friends, colleagues and co-authors from around the globe

    • Enjoying the polished presentations of Dominik Jobst and Emira Jasari 

  • Bilanzrechtstage 2024
    Prof Katrin Hummel gave a presentation on ‘The Materiality Assessment in Context of the ESRS’ at the Bilanzrechtstage 2024. 
    Here are the key insights:

    • The materiality assessment forms the foundation for topic-specific sustainability reporting under the ESRS.

    • Therefore, conducting it thoroughly and in a structured manner is crucial.

    • Stakeholders need to be engaged throughout the materiality assessment process.

    • The ESRS mandate reporting on both the process and outcome of the materiality assessment.

    • Recent analysis of Austrian companies' reporting practices on the materiality assessment reveals positive trends, but also some gaps that still need to be closed.

  • Engage.EU Thinktank 2024
    Prof. Katrin Hummel participated in the Engage.EU Thinktank 2024, held at NHH in Bergen. Thanks to all participants, especially the dedicated organizing committee in Bergen. Stay ENGAGED!
    Highlights:

    • Connection with remarkable and passionate researchers

    • Engagement in thought-provoking discussions

    • Expansion of understanding of salmon farming practices

    • Insights into the potential of carbon capture and storage technologies

  • Project seminar EU Taxonomy Regulation
    The project seminar immersed our students in the complexities of the EU Taxonomy Regulation. Through the analysis of real-life cases, we are delving deep into the nuanced details of this regulation. A big thank you to Sanela Terko, Omnea Ahmed, and Matthias Hrinkow of BDO Austria for hosting us and fueling both our minds and stomachs.

  • VHB annual congress 2024
    Prof. Katrin Hummel moderated a panel discussion focusing on the integration of sustainability in accounting and reporting at the annual congress of the VHB hosted at the Leuphana University in Lüneburg. The exchange of ideas serves as a catalyst for innovative research endeavors in this field! A heartfelt thank you to Lucia Bellora-Bienengräber, Stefan Schaltegger and Patrick Velte for their invaluable contributions to the panel.

  • Article by Prof. Katrin Hummel and Karina Bauernhofer published in the journal "Accounting Forum"
    In their recent research paper titled „Consequences of Sustainability Reporting Mandates: Evidence from the EU Taxonomy Regulation“, Prof. Katrin Hummel and Karina Bauernhofer examine the consequences of the EU Taxonomy Regulation on firms' reporting, capital-market effects and corporate actions and firms' outcomes.
    Click here for the article: https://doi.org/10.1080/01559982.2024.2301854

  •  Community of Practice Sustainability Reporting & Steering
    Prof. Katrin Hummel and Catharina Ahmadi served as community leads at the second meeting of the Community of Practice Sustainability Reporting & Steering of the Controller Institut Austria. A big thank you to Sanela Terko for shedding light on the intricacies of conducting a materiality assessment, particularly from an auditor's perspective. Thanks to Rita Niedermayr and Jasmin Menten for their support in front of and behind the scenes.

  • Article by Prof. Katrin Hummel and Dominik Jobst published in the journal "Accounting in Europe"
    In their recent research paper titled „An Overview of Corporate Sustainability Reporting Legislation in the European Union“, Prof. Katrin Hummel and Dominik Jobst provide an overview of current EU legislation on sustainability reporting. This paper supports both researchers and practitioners in navigating the EU sustainability reporting landscape. 
    Click here for the article: 
    https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17449480.2024.2312145

  • Proceedings of the symposium 'Sustainability and Business Law'
    The proceedings of the symposium 'Sustainability and Business Law' hosted by the 'Studiengesellschaft für Wirtschaft und Recht' have been published and offer exciting contributions that illuminate the topic of sustainability from various fields.
    The article by Prof. Katrin Hummel and Karina Bauernhofer addresses the criticisms and challenges of the EU Taxonomy Regulation.
    Available at: 
    www.lindedigital.at/doc-id/fb-nachhaltigkeit_b2

  • ASRA 2023
    For the 24th time, KSW (Austrian Chamber of Tax Advisors and Public Accountants) and IWP (Institute of Austrian Certified Public Accountants) awarded the best Austrian sustainability report (ASRA) on November 28th, 2023. Prof. Katrin Hummel provided scientific support for the jury work. The future of sustainability reporting is promising, as agreed in a public panel discussion at the gala. Congrats to the winners and thanks to all who took on an active role in the ASRA. 

  • Community of Practice Sustainability Reporting & Steering
    The Community of Practice Sustainability Reporting & Steering of the Controller Institut Austria launched its first focus meeting! Delving into the challenges of conducting a double materiality analysis, Prof. Katrin Hummel and Catharina Ahmadi discussed various topics such as ensuring the completeness of the double materiality analysis, engaging with internal and external stakeholders and coordinating with risk management. Thanks to ÖBB for hosting this event and to Rita Niedermayr and Margarita Mayer for their excellent support. 

  • Smart Regulation Symposium 2023
    Prof. Hummel discussed the challenges of sustainability reporting with Monika Brom, Klemens Eiter and Prof. Alfred Wagenhofer at the Smart Regulation Symposium 2023 in Graz. In light of the EU Taxonomy, the CSRD and the ESRS, companies need to get ready for the next level of sustainability reporting!

  • Radio show PUNKT EINS
    Prof. Hummel was a guest of Marlene Nowotny on the radio show PUNKT EINS on the 3rd October, 2023. Together with Raphael Fink (VKI), they discussed how greenwashing can be detected both at a product level and in company’s disclosure and what measures can prevent it. 
    Further information is available here: 
    https://oe1.orf.at/programm/20231003/735691/Zu-gruen-um-wahr-zu-sein

  • CSEAR UK 2023
    For the 33rd time, the International Congress on Social and Environmental Accounting Research (CSEAR) was held in St. Andrews from August 22 to 24, 2023. Prof. Hummel, Dominik Jobst and Karina Bauernhofer presented their latest research results at the congress. 

  • Award for the master thesis of Karina Bauernhofer
    At the 9th iwp Science Forum on June 13th, 2023, Karina Bauernhofer's master thesis "EU Taxonomy Regulation: design, target achievement and implications", supervised by Prof. Katrin Hummel, was awarded 1st place. Congratulations!

  • EAA Congress 2023
    It has been a great pleasure and a lot of fun to present our research at the EAA Congress 2023 in Helsinki. Congrats to Karina Bauernhofer, Dominik Jobst and Emira Jasari for their excellent presentations! Thanks to all participants, colleagues and friends for an inspiring and vibrant atmosphere. 

  • Symposium Sustainability in Business Law
    Prof. Hummel gave a presentation on the EU Taxonomy at the 'Sustainability in Business Law' symposium hosted by the 'Studiengesellschaft für Wirtschaft und Recht (Paris Lodron University of Salzburg)'.

  • Social and Environmental Accountability Journal

    Prof. Dr. Katrin Hummel has been invited to join the editorial board of the Social and Environmental Accountability Journal (SEAJ). The journal is the official journal of The Centre for Social and Environmental Research (CSEAR). SEAJ offers a broad forum for research in the area of social, environmental and sustainable development accounting, accountability, reporting and auditing. The journal is characterized by its openness towards innovative and new research ideas and approaches. Prof. Hummel is looking forward to support the journal!
    Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/reaj20
Video Researcher of the Month:

Researcher of the Month:

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Katrin Hummel

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  • Prof. Dr. Katrin Hummel is Researcher of the Month

    Should it be mandatory for companies to disclose their environmental performance? The climate crisis brings a little-noticed field into focus: companies' reporting obligations. Katrin Hummel, Head of the Department of Accounting & Reporting at WU Vienna, and her colleague Emira Jasari (University of Zurich) examine the consequences of mandatory climate reporting in their new study.
     

  • Lecture on "The Role of Paradigms in Sustainability Accounting Research"

    On September 22, 2022, Prof. Dr. Katrin Hummel opened the seminar series "Accounting for Sustainability" at the Hanken School of Economics with a lecture on "The Role of Paradigms in Sustainability Accounting Research". In her lecture, Prof. Hummel explained the role of different pradigms in the current discussion on the regulation of sustainability reporting and complemented her remarks with findings from an extensive literature study.
     

  • Reinforcement of the team

    As of 01.09.2022, Ms. Karina Bauernhofer has newly taken over the function as university assistant praedoc at the group. We wish Ms. Bauernhofer a good start!
     

  • CSEAR UK 2022

    For the 32nd time, the International Congress on Social and Environmental Accounting Research (CSEAR) was held in St. Andrews from August 22 to 25, 2022. The Accounting & Reporting group was also represented at this renowned and internationally attended conference. Both Prof. Hummel and Mr. Jobst, MSc presented in detail their latest research results on climate reporting and the influence of the CSR Directive on the lending behavior of banks and answered questions from the audience. Both the professional exchange with international colleagues and the unique atmosphere characterized this small but top-class conference.
     

  • Article by Prof. Hummel published in the journal "Accounting and Business Research"

    The article "Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure: A Topic-Based Approach" by Prof. Hummel, Ass.-Prof. Mittelbach-Hörmanseder, Prof. Cho and Prof. Matten has been published in the renowned journal "Accounting and Business Research". The article deals with cultural differences in sustainability reporting between companies in Europe and North America. For this purpose, the sustainability reports of the companies over the period 2008-2019 are evaluated by means of text analysis. Significant differences in the topics of the reporting are revealed. In addition, these thematic differences are shown to be levelling out over time.
    Click here for the article: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00014788.2022.2071199
     

  • Article by Prof. Hummel published in "Zeitschrift für Controlling"

    The article "Externe Prüfung der Nachhaltigkeitsberichterstattung in Deutschland" by Prof. Hummel and Ms. M.A. Jasari has been published in the "Zeitschrift für Controlling". The article examines the external auditing of sustainability information for a sample of 68 German companies and the period 2015 to 2018, and thus before and after the introduction of the European CSR Directive (CSR-RUG in Germany). The results show that even without an explicit obligation to audit the content, the frequency of auditing sustainability information has increased in the wake of the CSR-RUG.
    Click here for the journal: rsw.beck.de/zeitschriften/controlling/das-aktuelle-heft
     

  • Award for the master thesis of Matthias Hrinkow

    In the course of the 42nd Controller Day of the Controller Institute, master theses were again awarded the Excellence in Research on Financial Leadership - Award. With the thesis "What is key? The development of non-financial KPI of listed Austrian and German companies", Matthias Hrinkow received one of the awards presented by the CFO Club Austria and the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration.
     

  • WU matters. WU talks

    Prof. Petutschnig speaks at "WU matters. WU talks" vor. Details can be found here: Announcement.
     

  • Accounting Forum Editorial

    Prof. Dr. Katrin Hummel has been appointed to the Editorial Board of the journal Accounting Forum. The journal publishes articles on current issues in accounting and is characterized by a variety of methods and research paradigms. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Katrin Hummel is very pleased to support Accounting Forum with her expertise.
     

  • Current application issues in connection with the EU Taxonomy Regulation (RWZ)

    In the first issue of the Journal "Zeitschrift für Recht und Rechnungswesen" (RWZ) in 2022, Univ.-Prof. Dr. Katrin Hummel, Mag. Sanela Terko, CPA and Matthias Hrinkow discuss current application issues in connection with the EU Taxonomy Regulation. Specifically, problems for reporting practice, such as the lack of a definition of the term "economic activity" and ambiguities regarding the materiality thresholds to be applied, are identified and solutions are proposed based on these. The article is available at the following link: Hrinkow/Hummel/Terko - RWZ 1/2022
     

  • The Accounting & Reporting group wishes you a Merry Christmas, relaxing holidays and a good start into a healthy and successful year 2022!
     

  • Distance learning and teaching

    Due to the current measures taken by the federal government to reduce COVID-19 infections, the WU switched to distance learning on Monday, November 22, 2021. Therefore, all courses of the Accounting and Reporting group are held online ever since. In particular, the course "The Practice of Sustainability Disclosure" will be taught exclusively online from the first lesson starting on November 30, 2021.
     

  • Green Deal – Green Finance – Green Reporting

    On October 18, 2021, KSW and iwp held a symposium on the topic "Green Deal - Green Finance - Green Reporting". In a keynote speech on "Accounting for Sustainability", Prof. Dr. Katrin Hummel provided current insights into accounting research in the context of sustainability. Further information is available here.

  • New team member

    As of 01.10.2021, Mr. Lukas Haider has started as a university assistant prae doc at the department. The position is funded by EY and is embedded in a close exchange between practice and research.
     

  • Tax & Legal Excellence Lounge Vienna

    On September 23, Prof. Dr. Hummel gave a presentation on sustainability reporting as part of a lecture evening on "Global Sustainability Policy and the Transformation of Business" at the Tax & Legal Excellence Lounge Vienna. Her presentation focused on the role of reporting in the context of the transformation to a sustainable economy. Against the background of the current regulatory challenge, Prof. Dr. Hummel presented key findings of her research.

    Link to Tax & Legal Excellence Lounge Vienna:

    www.tax-legal-excellence.com/lounge/globale-nachhaltigkeitspolitik-und-transformation-der-wirtschaft/
     

  • Specialization Sustainability Disclosure

    Regulatory and societal developments push sustainability disclosure to the top of the management agenda. There is a great need for expertise in the design and implementation of robust and compliant sustainability disclosure and for a better understanding of the consequences of this new phenomenon.

    Therefore the Accounting & Reporting group provides the specialization Sustainability Disclosure for the Master's Degree Finance and Accounting to provide further insights in this constantly developing and ever more important topic. Further information is available here.
     

  • New team member
    The Accounting & Reporting group welcomes Matthias Hrinkow, who will support the group's research starting from 01.09.2021. The position is funded by BDO and is closely integrated into a research cooperation with BDO. Within the scope of this cooperation, Mr. Hrinkow will intensively deal with the sustainability reporting of Austrian companies and the increased regulatory requirements in this area.
     

  • Research cooperation with practice
    The Accounting & Reporting group is in close contact with practice. The current dynamics in the regulation of sustainability reporting in the EU forces many Austrian companies to deal with this topic in a timely and in-depth manner. In this context, we are constantly looking for interested and qualified graduates with a Master's degree who, in cooperation with a practice representative, can support the group in research tasks within the framework of a position as university assistant/in prae. If you are interested, please contact Prof. Hummel directly.
     

  • Disclosure on the Sustainable Development Goals
    In a current research paper, Katrin Hummel and Manuel Szekely (University of Zurich) give an overview of the reporting by European companies on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Their research shows that reporting on the SDGs is basically still in its infancy, whereby both financial and non-financial stakeholders are driving the reporting. The article has been accepted for publication in the journal “Accounting in Europe” and is available as a working paper under the following link (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3411017).