Personal details
| Title | Abschlussarbeitsthemen Accounting & Corporate Governance (Sose 2025) |
| Description | The field of accounting is broad and there are many possible topic areas for Bachelor and Master theses. Suggested topic areas closely align with the research interests of the chair, which has the benefit that we already evaluated general feasibility and data access. Suggested topics are still relatively broad in nature and will be further specified in the research proposal phase. Besides these suggested topic areas below, you can also suggest your own topic. Suggested topics are subject to approval, which is generally based on feasibility, suitability for a thesis, and availability of sufficient supervisory resources.
Topic Area 1: ESG and Sustainability Reporting Illustrative literature and recommended introductory readings:
Suggested topics: Topic 1A: Firms’ Transparency and NGO Campaigning (suitable for BA and MA theses) How do firms respond to NGO campaigns? Do firms respond to NGO campaigns by increasing their disclosure in the respective campaign topic? Prior literature already provides evidence for a huge set of influential factors on firms’ reporting and sustainability reporting. However, little is known about the role of non-traditional stakeholders e.g., namely NGOs. This thesis topic addresses this question by investigating sustainability reporting pre- and post-campaign targeting. Data: Will be provided by the chair. Important topic-specific literature:
Topic 1B: Firms’ Donation Spending (suitable for BA and MA theses) Why do firms donate? While prior research already provides evidence about firms’ motives to donate in terms of e.g., corporate philanthropy. This thesis aims to collect evidence on which firms (especially in Germany) donate and analyze pattern in the data such as e.g., size or industry. Data: Will be collected via newspapers using the database LexisNexis (access via BIS). Important topic-specific literature:
Topic Area 2: New Information Technology and Intermediaries Innovation in information technologies and the rising of social media have changed the way of communications of financial information. Information is made available more timely and also becomes more easily accessible through various channels. At the same time, more information becomes available through new players, such as financial influencers and social media investment platforms, challenged by concerns about credibility and increasing reports of fake news. Overall, innovative information technologies and social media affect how market participants assimilate and respond to information, which makes it an increasingly interesting area for investigation. Illustrative literature and recommended introductory readings:
Suggested topics: Topic 2A: Financial Influencers (suitable for BA and MA theses) Younger investors increasingly obtain investment information from social media platforms rather than investment advisors or other traditional information channels. As such, we observe an increasing number of content creators that publish investment relation content on platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok. But who are these so-called “finfluencers”? Which investments do they focus on? And how reliable is their advice? Data: Based on your research question, you will collect data for a pre-defined list of social media channels. Specific data (such as content posted on Youtube) can also be provided by the chair. Important topic-specific literature:
Topic 2B: ESG Influencers (suitable for BA and MA theses) Issues concerning a company’s activities and performance on environmental, social, and governance matters become increasingly important. In this thesis, you will dive into ESG influencers, i.e., content creators on social media that analyze and comment on a company’s ESG performance. Who are these ESG influencers? Which companies do they focus on? And how reliable is their advice? Data: Based on your research question, you will collect data for a pre-defined list of social media channels. Specific data (such as content posted on Youtube) can also be provided by the chair. Important topic-specific literature:
Topic Area 3: Corporate Reporting and Stakeholder Perceptions While corporate reporting traditionally focuses on capital providers, other corporate stakeholders are increasingly interested in financial and non-financial information about corporate activities. At the same time, corporate reporting and behavior may affect how various non-investor stakeholders think about the firm, which can alleviate or increase stakeholder conflicts. In this topic area, you will investigate how corporate reporting affects non-investor stakeholders and/or how perceptions of important stakeholders, such as employees, affect corporate reporting and behavior.
Suggested topics: Topic 3A: ESG Reporting and Stakeholder Perceptions (suitable for BA and MA theses) How do firms respond to e.g., employer ratings? Do firms that already report extensively e.g., about work-life balance in their disclosures actively respond to bad job ratings? Are the responses meaningful? Are the trends of increased social reporting aligned with the ratings? Data: Will be collected using job platforms such as kununu.com. Important topic-specific literature:
Topic 3B: Financial Reporting and Stakeholder Attention/Perceptions (suitable for MA theses only) How do non-investor stakeholders, such as employees or consumers, react to investor-oriented corporate information, such as news about recent earnings or sales performance? Does financial communication increase conflicts among stakeholders, e.g., when there are labor restructurings or product-market disputes? How do non-investor stakeholders react to financial news, such as fraud or financial restatements? Does financial news have attention effects on non-investor stakeholders? Data: Depending on the specific research question, data may be available from public sources (e.g., product market recalls), can be provided by the chair (e.g., employee ratings from Glassdoor.com), or may need additional collection. Important topic-specific literature:
Topic 3C: ESG-focused investor meetings Firms regularly meet with investors to discuss corporate strategy and recent performance. More recently, firms began to host or participate in investor events that specifically focus on ESG. What is discussed during these meetings and what role do they play in capital markets? Based on a comprehensive sample of transcripts of investor presentations, you will investigate the content and consequences of these meetings. Data: Can be obtained via Refinitiv EIKON. Important topic-specific literature:
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| Home institution | Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law |
| Associated institutions |
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| Type of work | not specified |
| Type of thesis | Bachelor's or Master's degree |
| Author | Prof. Dr. Christoph Sextroh |
| Status | available |
| Problem statement | In principle, all topics supervised by our chair should have an empirical quantitative component. More information is also available on our website: |
| Requirement | Please note: Our supervisory capacities are limited. If applications exceed our capacities, theses slots will be allocated based on topic-match and -quality, your performance in accounting and/or finance-related courses, and in case of Master theses whether you specialize in accounting (or AFT in general). |
| Created | 28/12/24 |
