Prof. Dr. Friedrich Sommer

Biography

After completing his master’s examination in the baking trade and gaining professional experience, Friedrich Sommer earned a Bachelor of Business Administration (2008), a Ph.D. (2012), and a postdoctoral qualification (2016) in business administration at the University of Münster. At the invitation of Prof. Kristy Towry, he spent a semester as a visiting scholar at Emory University (Atlanta, USA) in 2014.

From 2016 to 2025, he served as a university professor at the University of Bayreuth (Chair of Business Administration XII: Controlling). There, he also served as Dean of Studies for the Faculty of Economics from 2018 to 2023. He declined an appointment at the University of Hohenheim in 2022 before accepting the appointment at FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg in 2025.

Friedrich Sommer places great emphasis on the exchange between academia and practice and is therefore, among other roles, the academic co-chair of the Schmalenbach Working Group on “Mergers & Acquisitions” and an active member of the Schmalenbach Working Group on “Internal Accounting and Controlling.” Since 2023, he has been a member of the Examination Board for Certified Public Accountants. He is also the co-initiator of the internationally oriented “Experimental Research in Management Accounting: Summer School and Conference” (EXRIMA, www.exrima.org).

His research on incentive and control systems, sustainability management, corporate valuation and M&A, as well as value-based corporate management, has been recognized with several awards. During his studies, Friedrich Sommer was a scholarship recipient of the German National Academic Foundation. His research has been published in leading journals such as Contemporary Accounting Research, Journal of Management Accounting Research, European Accounting Review, and Management Accounting Research. In addition, Friedrich Sommer is an associate editor of the journal Review of Managerial Science. He is also particularly committed to contributing to journals focused on practical application.

Selected Publications

Textbook

• Knauer, T./Sommer, F./Wöhrmann, A.: Kostenmanagement: Kostentransparenz erhöhen - Kostensteuerung optimieren, Stuttgart: Schäffer-Poeschel 2023.

Peer-reviewed journals

• Schnieder, C./Schedlinsky, I./Sommer, F./Wöhrmann, A. (2025): The Effects of Relative Performance Information and Transparency on Knowledge Sharing and Productive Effort, in: European Accounting Review, 34 (3), pp. 1195–1220.
• Schedlinsky, I./Schmidt, M./Sommer, F./Wöhrmann, A. (2025): The effect of process monitoring on beyond‐the‐job process improvements, in: Contemporary Accounting Research, 42 (2), pp. 866–889.
• Kreilkamp, N./Matanovic, S./Sommer, F./Wöhrmann, A. (2021): The Effect of Compensation Caps on Risk-Taking, in: Journal of Management Accounting Research, 33 (3), pp. 77-95.
• Knauer, T./Sommer, F./Wöhrmann, A. (2021): What is a good rank? The effort and performance effects of adding performance category labels to relative performance information, in: Contemporary Accounting Research, 38 (2), pp. 839-866.
• Knauer, T./Silge, L./Sommer, F. (2018): The shareholder value effects of using value-based per­formance measures: Evidence from acquisitions and divestments, in: Management Accounting Research, 41, pp. 43-61.
• Knauer, T./Sommer, F./Wöhrmann, A. (2017): Tournament winner proportion and its effect on effort: An investigation of the underlying psychological mechanisms, in: European Accounting Review, 26 (4), pp. 681-702.
• Diebecker J./Sommer, F. (2017): Impact of Corporate Sustainability Performance on Information Asymmetry: The Role of Institutional Differences, in: Review of Managerial Science, 11 (2), pp. 471-517.

Practical articles

• Dassel, K./Diebecker, J./Sommer, F. (2024): Kennzahlengestütztes Nachhaltigkeitscontrolling. Brücke zwischen Nachhaltigkeitsstrategie und -maßnahmen am Beispiel eines E-Commerce-Supermarkts, in: Controlling – Zeitschrift für erfolgsorientierte Unternehmenssteuerung, 36 (1), pp. 14–21. Ausgezeichnet mit dem Best Paper Award Praxis 2024 der „Controlling – Zeitschrift für erfolgsorientierte Unternehmenssteuerung“.
• Berlin, J./Oßieck, S./Sommer, F. (2023): Qualitativ-empirische Befunde zur Bewertung von jungen Wachstumsunternehmen durch Venture Capitalists, in: M&A Review, 36 (4), pp. 79-84.
• Knauer, T./Ringer, K./Sommer, F. (2022): War die Akquisition erfolgreich? Gestaltung der Erfolgskontrolle von Unternehmenskäufen, in: Controlling – Zeitschrift für erfolgsorientierte Unternehmenssteuerung, 34 (6): 27–34.
• Fiedler, N./Knauer, T./Sommer, F. (2020): Exklusivverhandlung oder kontrollierte Auktion? Eine empirische Analyse zu Determinanten, Erfolg und Dauer der Verfahren bei Unternehmensverkäufen, in: Die Wirtschaftsprüfung, 73 (11), pp. 653–658.
• Höger, C./Sommer, F./Winter, F. (2020): Wie nutzen deutsche Unternehmen Codes of Conduct zur Verhinderung von Wirtschaftskriminalität?, in: Die Wirtschaftsprüfung (WPg), 73 (21), pp. 1308-1314.

Complete list of publications