Biography

Professor Hiemann joined the Columbia faculty in the summer of 2013. He teaches financial accounting in the MBA program. His research examines the role of accounting in both managerial and financial reporting applications, including financial contracting and business valuation. In his current research, he develops a model for the optimal design of accounting-based debt covenants in the context of an asset substitution problem. The model implies several properties of accounting rules in efficiently designed debt contracts and proposes a unique optimal balancing of decision rights and interest rates. Accounting-based covenants can reduce the economic cost of debt financing, which has implications for firms' capital structure decisions. In the arena of business valuation, his research is concerned with the relationship between accounting rules, information and economic value. In particular, his interest lies in studying how inferences from valuation models are affected by the interaction of firms' economic properties and their financial accounting practices, and how valuation models should be adapted to both. Professor Hiemann holds a Ph.D. in business administration from Stanford University. Prior to his doctoral studies, he worked as a senior auditor at Ernst & Young LLP.