Tilburg University Essays on reporting and information processing de Kok, Ties DOI: 10.26116/center-lis-1904 Publication date: 2019 Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication in Tilburg University Research Portal Citation for published version (APA): de Kok, T. (2019). Essays on reporting and information processing. 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Download date: 02. okt. 2021 Essays on reporting and information processing Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan Tilburg University op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof. dr. E.H.L. Aarts, in het open- baar te verdedigen ten overstaan van een door het college voor promoties aangewezen commissie in de aula van de Universiteit op maandag 20 mei 2019 om 16.00 uur door Ties Cornelis Jouke de Kok geboren op 16 januari 1992 te Berkel-Enschot. Promotiecommissie: Promotores: prof. dr. P.P.M. Joos prof. dr. J.F.M.G. Bouwens Overige Leden: prof. dr. S. Hollander prof. dr. M. Clatworthy prof. dr. E. deHaan Acknowledgments In hindsight, I consider completing the PhD similar in spirit to climbing the Mount Everest. It is a challenge of persistence and self-discovery that is not possible to com- plete on your own. It requires people that support you and it gets a whole lot easier if there are people that are taking the challenge alongside you. I started the \climb" having no idea what I was embarking on, nor having a clear understanding as to why I wanted to conquer \the mountain" to begin with. However, unbeknownst to me at the time, the journey turned out to be the most important, with the final destination being just a bonus. More specifically, I have been incredibly fortunate to meet Yusiyu, my partner for life, at the beginning of this journey. Much of my development during the PhD I owe to her, and she made taking a leap of faith on the PhD one of the best decisions of my life. I would also like to especially acknowledge the help, support, and friendship of Victor van Pelt. Victor, Yusiyu, and myself formed our PhD cohort, and I very much con- sider us akin to the \Three Musketeers". I have benefited greatly, both personally and professionally, from having Victor as a friend, colleague, and co-author. He is an excel- lent researcher that is always willing to pitch in on research ideas and provide critical insights on how to solve research related problems. Furthermore, his assertive person- ality proved useful on more than one occasion, you can rely on Victor when something needs to be taken care of. I very much hope that we can continue our traditions of getting together for a beer in the future, wherever it may be! There are also many people whose support have been instrumental to my PhD. First of all, special thanks to my supervisor Philip Joos. There are many different types of PhD supervisors, and I consider myself lucky to have ended up with Philip. I would describe his supervision as supportive and enabling, without being restrictive. I never felt that Philip was forcing my decision making and instead he trusted in my autonomy to incorporate his advice and feedback. This trust is something that I greatly appreciate. Furthermore, Philip is the definition of a supervisor that can create great opportunities, as long as you are willing to capitalize on them. Many of my interactions with the accounting community in Europe and the United States have been enabled by the initiatives and network of Philip. A good example of this is his role in realizing my research visit to the University of Washington, which was a great opportunity. I Second of all, special thanks to my second supervisor Jan Bouwens. Jan and I only briefly overlapped at Tilburg but I still consider him an important mentor. If it wasn't for him, I might not have been in the PhD to begin with given that he was the person I talked to, besides Willem Buijink, when I was considering the research master program. I also learned later that he was instrumental in allowing me to enter into the program, even though some of the formal criteria were not in my favor. Jan is also my first co- author and he opened my mind up to the world of \empirical management accounting", but he did it in a way that did not restrict my interests in financial accounting topics. This is how it should be done! I greatly enjoy working with Jan and he is an incredibly nice person to be around. Jan has played an important supporting role throughout my PhD, and I am very grateful for that. I also would like to express a thank you to my committee members: Stephan Hollander, Mark Clatworthy, and Ed deHaan. They have provided me with important feedback, and my papers have benefited from it greatly. I would like to especially thank Stephan for being a great colleague with whom I have always been able to discuss cool and interesting research ideas. We share a lot of common interests, and I will fondly re- member our interactions over Python in particular. Also, I would like to express a special thanks to Ed for being open minded enough to extend me an invitation to visit the University of Washington. I consider Ed an important third mentor besides Philip and Jan. His advice on my research projects and the US job market have been instrumental to my PhD. It is a privilege to join the University of Washington and be one of Ed his colleagues. There are two remaining co-authors that I also would like to express a special thank you to, Christoph Sextroh and Arnt Verriest. Christoph joined Tilburg half-way through my PhD, and I consider myself lucky to call him my co-author. He is an exceptionally smart researcher and has a very kind and supportive personality. Besides working on research, I have fond memories of playing squash together and hanging out over beer and boardgames. Arnt and I never overlapped at Tilburg, but our paths crossed through our mutual co-authorship with Jan. I got to know Arnt as a great researcher, but more importantly as a kind and caring person. He is incredibly easy to hang out with and always has a way of making you feel comfortable around him, it truly is a pleasure to work with him. A special thanks also goes out to all the fellow PhD students over the years at Tilburg. First of all, thanks a lot to everyone that shared a research master cohort with me in addition to Victor and Yusiyu: Xiang, Nan, Xiaochi, Yue, and Thijs. I have many great memories of these first two years. A big thanks also to all the other research II master students and PhD students at Tilburg that I interacted with over the years; Martin, Ruishen, Jingwen, Tim, Ruidi, and Mathieu. You are all great people and you definitely made my PhD a lot more enjoyable. Besides the accounting PhDs I also have fond memories of playing video and board games with Clemens, Peter, Carlos, Ricardo, and Tung. I also would like to thank all the PhD students at the University of Washington for being so welcoming to me. In particular, Rosh was a great job market buddy and David was a great office mate. I would like to also especially thank John for his friendship and willingness to help me out during my visit. Even though he did not have to, he made sure that I had someone to hang out with from the very beginning, and without him my visit would have been a lot lonelier! Thanks as well to the whole accounting department at Tilburg, they have provided me with a great environment to development myself in. There are some people that I would like to mention in particular. First of all, I would have not been here if it wasn't for Willem Buijink spotting my potential in his bachelor course. You have opened up a new world for me Willem! I also would like to thank Bart Dierynck for his support during my PhD. A special thanks also to Bob van den Brand, most of my teaching was for his financial accounting course, and I always had a blast. Hetty Rutten has also set a very high bar with regards to administrative support, she is an instrumental part of the department and helped me a lot throughout my PhD. Lastly, I would like to acknowledge the help and training from Laurence van Lent, he is a very knowledgeable person and I learned a lot from him during the research master. Finally, I owe everything to my parents, Jolanda de Kok-Hulzenga and Maarten de Kok.