Dr. Patrick George Gerling

Summary Academic Record

Doctoral Thesis

Technical University of Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany (January 2007) 

“Management Accounting and Cognitive Biases – Impacts of bounded rationality on the problem solving of managers”

Summary:        

The task of managers on all levels consists of making decisions.  Like all human beings, managers have cognitive restraints and therefore cannot decide rational in all situations (bounded rationality).  When confronted with complex problems, they are not able to process all relevant information and they cannot be experts in all relevant fields.  Above that, cognitive biases can influence judgments negatively.  Taking this into account, the thesis does not base on unrealistic assumptions of how managers should decide (as a homo oeconomicus), but on how managers in reality do decide.  In e.g. using debiasing techniques and organizational learning the thesis uses a unique approach to combine up-to-date research from the fields of cognitive psychology and management accounting in order to design management accounting tools which help managers improve their decisions. 

Supervisor:
Prof. Dr. Volker Lingnau

Chair of Management Accounting and Control
Technical University Kaiserslautern    
GERMANY
www.controlling-lehrstuhl.de

Selected Publications

Books

  • Controlling – eine kognitionsorientierte Perspektive (“Management Accounting – a Cognitive Perspective”) (Textbook, Springer Verlag), forthcoming Spring 2012 (jointly with Lingnau, V.)  Link to Publication
  • Controlling und Kognition (“Management Accounting and Cognition”) (Dissertation, Eul Verlag), 2007. Link to Publication

Refereed Articles

  • Debiasing of Managerial Decisions: a New Function of Management Accounting? In: Management, Special Edition 2009, Zielona Gora, Poland, p. 169-189.  Link to Full Article
  • Dienstleistungs-Controlling – ein kognitionsorientierter Ansatz. (“Management Accounting for Services – a Cognitive Approach”) In: Seicht, G. (ed.): Jahrbuch für Controlling und Rechnungswesen 2006, Wien 2006, p. 395 – 418. (jointly with Lingnau, V.)
  • Software für die Hochschulverwaltung (“Software for the Administration of Universities”) In: Die Verwaltung, 37(2005), No. 3, p. 399-415. (jointly with Hubig, L.; Jonen, A.; Lingnau, V.)
  • Theorie und Praxis der Kostenrechnung im Dienstleistungsbereich. (“Cost Accounting for Services in Theory and Practice”) In: Zeitschrift für Planung, vol. 15 (2004), No. 4, p. 449-468. (jointly with Hubig, L.; Jonen, A.; Lingnau, V.)
  • Geschäftsprozesstypologie (“A typology of business processes”) In: Schriften zum Produktionsmanagement, No. 62, Kaiserslautern 2003, p. 1-15.

Teaching Record

Lectures

  • Advanced Cost Accounting (Master level; SS 04, SS 05 and SS 06)
  • Cost Accounting Systems – Design and Concept of Advanced Cost Accounting Systems (Master level; SS 06)
  • Cost Accounting (Bachelor level; SS02, SS03, SS04, SS05 and SS06)
  • Management Accounting Tools (WS 04/05 and WS 05/06)

Exercise Courses

  • Cost Accounting (Bachelor level; SS 02, SS 03, SS 04 and SS 05)
  • Advanced Cost Accounting (Master level; WS01/02 and WS02/03)
  • Financial Accounting (Bachelor level; WS 01/02)

Seminars

  • Management Accounting – Theories and Concepts (WS04/05, SS05 and SS 06)
  • IFRS versus German Gaap (WS 05/06)
  • Behavioural Accounting (WS 03/04 und WS 05/06)
  • Advanced Managerial Accounting (SS 02; in English)
  • Influential Figures in Management and Accounting Research (WS04/05)
  • Strategic Control and Change (WS02/03; englischsprachig)
  • Development of Management Accounting Tools with Microsoft Offfice (SS05)
  • Design of an ERP-Systems at proAlpha AG, Kaiserslautern, Germany (SS 04)
  • IT-Controlling: Assessment of the IT systems at a Private University at KFH Mainz, Mainz, Germany (SS 04)
  • Balanced Scorecard Design at Boehringer Ingelheim, Ingelheim, Germany (SS 03)

Supervised Master Theses

  • Better and Beyond Budgeting – Old Ideas Repackaged? (2006)
  • Shareholder Value Orientated Tools in Management Accounting – Discussion of Discounted Cash Flow Based Theories and Tools (2006)
  • Management Accounting and Cognition – Literature Review and Outline of Possible Future Research Areas (2006)
  • External Accounting Trends and their Implications on Internal Accounting (2006)
  • Design of Accounting Systems in the Context of Cognitive Psychology Research and Software Ergonomics (2006)
  • Cost Accounting for Private Companies – A theoretical and Empirical Analysis (2005)
  • Activity Based Costing – Design of aCost Accounting System for an IT Services Firm (2005)
  • Design of a Balanced Score Card – an Analysis of Hospitals and Rehabilitation Centres (2005)
  • Design of Cost Accounting Systems – Literature Review and Trends (2005)
  • Fixed Cost Management for Professional Services Companies (2004)
  • IT-Controlling: Assessment of the IT systems at a Private University (2004)
  • Functional Distinction between Logistic Management and Logistic Controlling (2004)
  • Concepts of Overcoming the Dichotomy of Goods and Services (2004)
  • Transfer Pricing for Internal Services (2003)
  • Place of Location of a Manufacturing Plant – Analysis of Required Information from Management Accounting Tools (2003)
  • Target Costing for Services Companies (2003)