MASTERSEMINAR TAXATION II
WINTER TERM 2016/17
(EMPIRICAL RESEARCH SEMINAR)
“ECONOMICS OF WHITE COLLAR CRIME”
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Lecturers
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Prof. Evelina Gavrilova (Norwegian School of Economics) - key speaker
Prof. Andrea Schneider (University of Münster)
Prof. Robert Ullmann (University of Augsburg)
General Information
White collar crime covers a wide range of financially motivated, non-violent crimes
such as insider trading, ponzi schemes and tax evasion. The seminar intends to highlight
and discuss in detail the academic research on the underlying economics of white collar
crime. In an interactive class room setting, we will investigate the drivers of respective
criminal behavior. This includes, but is not limited to, incentives, operational structures
and activity patterns of all economic players involved. The following cases, which have
received considerable media attention in the past, will be covered:
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The Enron Case
The Madoff Case
The Siemens Case
The Deutsche Bank Case
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The Olympus Case
The course aims at Master students with an interest in the topic but is, of course, open to
Doctoral Students and PostDocs as well. There are no formal prerequisites for admission! A certain interest in empirical methods is necessary, but no own empirical anal-
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yses are to be performed. Students will in fact learn how to interpret and discuss empirical research during the seminar. The strong research focus makes the seminar particularly relevant for students that consider obtaining a PhD in Accounting, Finance or Economics after their Master studies.
The seminar is conducted jointly with Master students from the University of Muenster.
Generous funding by the Dr. Werner Jackstädt-Endowment to cover all expenses of
the seminar is gratefully acknowledged.
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Schedule
The course takes place from Monday, 28/11/2016, until Wednesday, 30/11/2016. The
time slot is 12.00 a.m. - 6.30 p.m. each of these days.
The course takes place entirely on the Campus of the University of Augsburg.
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Grading
The seminar is taught entirely in English and builds partially on the Case Study Method
as it is applied in Business Schools worldwide. The seminar thesis can be written in
both English or German.
Students are asked to work through the cases, using public sources such as the internet,
before the seminar and to participate actively in the class room discussion (30% of the
grade). In addition, a short seminar thesis of 10 to 15 pages must be prepared after the
seminar and handed in until March 15, 2017 (70% of the grade). The task for the seminar thesis is to discuss a published research paper in the broad area of white collar
crime, based on the principles elaborated on in the seminar. A list of research papers
will be provided by the lecturers from the areas of accounting, finance and economics
(see below). Students are free to choose a research paper from that list or may also make
own proposals regarding a research paper for their seminar thesis (conditional on approval by the lecturers).
Extensive feedback will be provided on the seminar thesis to provide guidance for students in preparation of other theses (e.g., "Masterarbeit").
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Class Room Materials
You must sign in for this seminar on DigiCampus to gain access to relevant information
and lecture slides. You must also be able to use the browser based software PresentersWall to participate in class room votings and discussions. Please ensure that you are
able to access PresentersWall at all times during the seminar (e.g. on your notebook or
any other device). Eduroam is available in the class room.
If you would like to be included on our mailing list regarding this seminar at any point,
please write a short email to tax@wiwi.uni-augsburg.de. This does not require you to
participate in the seminar in the end, but allows you to stay informed until you decide.
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Registration
Registration is open now until October 20, 2016. To register for the seminar, please
simply send an Email to tax@wiwi.uni-augsburg.de (including your CV and a current
list of courses completed). Slots in the seminar will be allocated on a first-come-firstserved basis.
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Research Papers for Students from Augsburg
Please choose one research paper from the list below (or propose another paper to the
lecturers). You must communicate your choice of research paper by Email to the lecturers no later than the last day of seminar (30/11/2016). The papers are available on DigiCampus for your convenience.
Bayer Ralph, Cowell Frank, 2016, Tax Compliance by Firms and Audit Policy, Research in Economics, Vol. 70, Issue 1, 38-52.
Beasley Mark S., 1996, An Empirical Analysis of the Relation between the Board of
Director Composition and Financial Statement Fraud, The Accounting Review, Vol 71,
Issue 4, 443-465.
Bhattarcharya Uptal, Marshall D. Cassandra, 2012, Do They do it for the Money, Journal of Corporate Finance, Vol. 18, Issue 1, 92-104.
Donohoe Micheal P., Knechel Robert W., 2014, Does Corporate Tax Aggressiveness
Influence Audit Pricing, Contemporary Accounting Research, Vol. 31, Issue 1,284-308.
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Higgins Danielle, Omer Thomas C., Phillips John D., 2015, Does Influence of a Firms’s
Business Strategy on its Tax Aggressiveness, Contemporary Accounting Research, Vol.
32, Issue 2, 674-702.
Lanis Roman, Richardson Grant, 2011, The Effect of Board of Director Composition on
Corporate Tax Aggressiveness, Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Vol. 30, Issue
1 ,50-70.
Lennox Clive, Lisowsky Petro, Pittman Jeffrey, 2013, Tax Aggressiveness and Accounting Fraud, Journal of Accounting Research, Vol. 51, Issue 4, 739-778.
Rego Sonja O., Wilson Ryan, 2012, Equity Risk Incentives and Corporate Tax Aggressiveness, Journal of Accounting Research, Vol. 50, Issue 3, 775-810.
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