Jan Bouwens

Research interests

How accounting systems can help employees to make their decisions and to assure that employees make decisions that are conducive to the firm they work for; the information bank employees use to decide on loans; how differing levels of targets over time affect the extent to which managers learn.

Professional experience

Jan teaches managerial accounting at Cambridge Judge Business School. Early in his career Jan held positions as an accountant and as a teacher. He joined the board of directors of a large Dutch school (50,000 students). He currently is one of the managing directors of the Foundation for Auditing Research. He also serves at the board of the CPA programme at the University of Amsterdam.

Previous appointments

Jan has taught accounting to MBA students at Harvard Business School. He has also taught bachelor and master students in business economics at Tilburg University, the University of Melbourne, Nyenrode Business School and the University of Amsterdam.

Awards & honours

• Best Paper Award (for the paper "The effect of management control elements on coordination"), American Accounting Association, 2014
• Best Dissertation Award (for his student Peter Kroos), American Accounting Association, 2010
• Free Publicity Prize (for number of editorials published), Tilburg University, 2005
• Teacher of the Year, Nyenrode Business School, 1999

Selected publications

• Bouwens, J., Hofmann, C. and van Lent, L. (2017) "Performance measures and intra-firm spillovers: theory and evidence." Journal of Management Accounting Research (forthcoming)

• Abernethy, M.A., Bouwens, J. and Kroos, P. (2017) "Organization identity and earnings manipulation." Accounting, Organizations and Society, 58: 1-14 (DOI: 10.1016/j.aos.2017.04.002)

• Bouwens, J. and Kroos, P. (2016) "The interplay between forward-looking measures and target setting." Management Science, 63(9): 2868-2884 (DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2016.2481)

• Bouwens, J. and Steens, B. (2016) "Full-cost transfer pricing and cost management." Journal of Management Accounting Research, 28(3): 63-81 (DOI: 10.2308/jmar-51390)

• Abernethy, M.A., Bouwens, J. and van Lent, L. (2013) "The role of performance measures in the intertemporal decisions of business unit managers." Contemporary Accounting Research, 30(3): 925-961 (DOI: 10.1111/j.1911-3846.2012.01178.x)

• Bouwens, J. and Kroos, P. (2011) "Target ratcheting and effort reduction." Journal of Accounting and Economics, 51(1-2): 171–185 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2010.07.002)

Journal articles

• Bouwens, J. and Abernethy, M.A. (2000) "The consequences of customization on management accounting system design." Accounting, Organizations and Society, 25(3): 221-241 (DOI: 10.1016/S0361-3682(99)00043-4)

• Abernethy, M.A., Bouwens, J. and van Lent, L. (2004) "Determinants of control system design in divisionalized firms." The Accounting Review, 79(3): 545-570 (10.2308/accr.2004.79.3.545)

• Abernethy, M.A. and Bouwens, J. (2005) "Determinants of accounting innovation implementation." Abacus, 41(3): 217-241 (DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6281.2005.00180.x)

• Bouwens, J. and van Lent, L. (2006) "Performance measure properties and the effect of incentive contracts." Journal of Management Accounting Research, 18: 55-75 (DOI: 10.2308/jmar.2006.18.1.55)

• Bouwens, J. and van Lent, L. (2007) "Assessing the performance of business unit managers." Journal of Accounting Research, 45(4): 667-697 (DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-679X.2007.00251.x)

• Abernethy, M.A., Bouwens, J. and van Lent, L. (2010) "Leadership and control system design." Management Accounting Research, 21(1): 2-16 (DOI: 10.1016/j.mar.2009.10.002)

• Bouwens, J. and Kroos, P. (2011) "Target ratcheting and effort reduction." Journal of Accounting and Economics, 51(1-2): 171–185 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2010.07.002)

• Abernethy, M.A., Bouwens, J. and van Lent, L. (2013) "The role of performance measures in the intertemporal decisions of business unit managers." Contemporary Accounting Research, 30(3): 925-961 (DOI: 10.1111/j.1911-3846.2012.01178.x)

• Bouwens, J. and Steens, B. (2016) "Full-cost transfer pricing and cost management." Journal of Management Accounting Research, 28(3): 63-81 (DOI: 10.2308/jmar-51390)

• Bouwens, J. and Kroos, P. (2016) "The interplay between forward-looking measures and target setting." Management Science, 63(9): 2868-2884 (DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2016.2481)

• Abernethy, M.A., Bouwens, J. and Kroos, P. (2017) "Organization identity and earnings manipulation." Accounting, Organizations and Society, 58: 1-14 (DOI: 10.1016/j.aos.2017.04.002)

• Bouwens, J., Hofmann, C. and van Lent, L. (2017) "Performance measures and intra-firm spillovers: theory and evidence." Journal of Management Accounting Research (forthcoming)