Erik
Johannesson
M.Sc., MPhil, Ph.D.
Welcome to my personal website. It is intended to serve as a continuously updated digital résumé and presentation of who I am.
The Basics
If you've reached this page, chances are you already know a little bit about me, but just in case:
Name: Erik Johannesson
Nationality: Swedish
Current position: Associate at Analysis Group, Inc.
Former academic position: Assistant professor, Stan Ross Department of Accountancy, Baruch College, CUNY
Doctoral education: Department of Accounting, Columbia Business School, Columbia University
Graduation: Spring 2018
Dissertation topic: Former insiders’ trading behavior, the dynamics of their informational advantage, and the role of past and future information endowments
Other research interests: Valuation, information processing, risk assessment, equity market research
Research methodology: Empirical archival (including analytical and/or experimental analyses)
FORMER INSIDERS' TRADING
My dissertation committee consists of the following professors:
Shiva Rajgopal (Columbia)
Dan Amiram (Columbia)
Fabrizio Ferri (Columbia)
Alexander Ljungqvist (NYU)
Per Olsson (ESMT Berlin)
Dissertation
My dissertation investigates the extent to which former insiders trade in and earn abnormal returns on what previously constituted inside stock. It also investigates the time-series properties and the source of any informational advantage. I show that former insiders trade profitably in the shares of companies they used to be affiliated with. A trading strategy mimicking former insiders’ trading behavior yields abnormal returns of 7.6% a year. These returns are primarily driven by post-separation purchases rather than sales. They do not reflect general stock-picking skills: former insiders earn significantly lower abnormal returns when trading companies they have no affiliation with. Their informational advantage diminishes over time, but less so if they retain ties to current insiders. The importance of such ties is larger in the presence of future value-relevant information. My results are consistent with former insiders using both retained inside information and inside information obtained post-separation when trading in inside stock.
Research Interests
Broadly speaking, I am interested in empirical capital markets research and in questions that address how information can be used by market participants to assess equity prices. I find the triplet {Information, Processing, Price} intriguing, which is the reason why I decided to pursue a Ph.D. in Accounting.
Various permutations and angles of this triplet can be found in all the research I have conducted thus far.
One example is the pair of papers I have written with Prof. Jim Ohlson. We aspire to derive accounting-based constructs that better process public information to more accurately explain market prices and market returns.
Another example is my paper with Prof. Seil Kim, a paper in which we investigate whether executives use private information about upcoming good news when deciding whether to dispose of vested equity, in anticipation of price increases.
A third example is my dissertation, described above.
Other research interests include risk assessments, anomalies, fraudulence, and accounting quality. However, I believe a good idea is a good idea, and I am open to working in other areas as well.
Regardless of research question, my primary methodology is empirical archival, ideally augmented with analytical reasoning or experimental corroboration. Combining methodologies can, in my mind, lead to very interesting research. Proper identification strategies and sound, plausible premises are important to me, and alternative methodologies may help ensuring this.
Publications, Working Papers, and Work in Progress
"Equity Value as a Function of (eps1, eps2, dps1, bvps, beta): Concepts and Realities"
with Jim Ohlson (Hong Kong PolyU)
Abacus 2016. Recipient of the editorial board's "Best Manuscript 2016 Award."
"Explaining Returns through Valuation"
with Jim Ohlson (Hong Kong PolyU)
Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance (forthcoming)
"When do executives actually sell vested restricted equity?"
with Seil Kim (Baruch College)
"Explanatory variables without explanatory power"
with Jim Ohlson and Weihuan Zhai (Hong Kong PolyU)
Review of Accounting Studies (forthcoming)
"A return-space representation of accounting information"
with Weihuan Zhai (Hong Kong PolyU), Katja Kisseleva and Per Olsson (ESMT Berlin)
Data analysis stage.
”It has been a privilege working with you!”
Jim Ohlson
Lecture series on equity valuation
Teaching Experience and Student Testimonials
Course Director
Intermediate Accounting II, Baruch College, 2019, 2020 (partly online).
(Bachelor-level course in financial accounting.)
Teaching rating average: 4.4/5.
Select student assessments:
"You reached out to me a lot last semester, and made sure that I was reaching my potential as a student. That meant a huge deal to me on a human level, and I can't thank you enough."
"It's been a breath of fresh air to have a class I look forward to attending despite busy schedule."
"Erik, I feel very fortunate I met you. I could not have asked for a better professor. I will miss your class a lot."
Course Director
Financial Reporting and Financial Markets (online), Stockholm School of Economics, 2011.
Corporate Reporting and Control (online), Stockholm School of Economics, 2011.
(Bachelor-level intermediate courses in financial and managerial accounting, respectively.)
Select student assessments:
“The fact that we all passed the two accounting courses is largely thanks to Erik Johannesson. Erik has been a fantastic teacher and has really done his utmost to help us pass. Erik has always been available via email and Skype, he has delivered very pedagogical explanations to the most difficult concepts, and he has been extremely patient with all our questions, as well as with malfunctioning technology and time differences. We could not have gotten a better tutor!"
Teaching Assistant (Bachelor level)
for Prof. Jim Ohlson, Financial Statement Analysis, New York University, 2013.
(Bachelor-level course in financial accounting)
Select student assessments:
“I'm writing this email just to say thank you for being such a great TA this semester. I always got lightning speed replies when I send you an email and you are always willing to see me even if it is not your office hour. The class would have been much harder if it is not for you. So, thank you very much.”
“Thank you for TAing for FSA. You were prompt and made yourself available to our questions. Of my 4 years at NYU, I think you are one of the best TA's I have ever had. Keep doing what you're doing; you're doing it right and it's working!”
“Thank you for your dedication to helping every student learn this semester and always making yourself available.”
“Thank you again for being an awesome TA and good luck at Columbia!”
Teaching Assistant (MBA level)
for Profs. Dan Amiram, Edwige Cheynel, Financial Accounting, Columbia University, 2014 and 2015.
"I was very lucky to have Erik Johannesson as my Teaching Assistant for Financial Accounting at Columbia Business School. Coming straight from an undergraduate program in music performance, I was not in any way prepared to take the course. Accounting was like a foreign language to me—I didn't even know what "equity" meant!
I met Erik early in the semester and spent a considerable amount of time working with him throughout the course, for which I will be forever grateful. Erik was always willing to explain (and re-explain) concepts to me in various ways until we found one that "stuck," and that I could apply to alternative scenarios and commit to memory. I saw Erik adapt to many different learning styles in office hours with ease, finesse, and patience far beyond his years. Any accounting student would be lucky to have Erik as their professor. He is a truly gifted teacher."
Tatiana Stola
Captain Daniel Maher
"I had the fortune of having Erik Johannesson as my Financial Accounting Teacher's Assistant while I was pursuing my MBA at Columbia Business School. Without a doubt, Erik had a very challenging class to teach and he did so with the professionalism, patience, and expertise commensurate of a much more senior professor. Erik took us under his wing and found innovative ways to teach each of us the material according to our own learning styles. His effectiveness was highly evident: some of us with no background in the field of accounting outperformed bonafide CPAs in the class!
Always upbeat and congenial, Erik's encouragement motivated even the most self-doubting students. What impressed me most was his incredible patience not only with me, but with students who would show up late or even at the end of the semester saying "the final exam is tomorrow - teach me everything!" Many of us wished that we had met Erik earlier, and would only sign up for further accounting courses if he was there to translate “the language of business” to plain English for us."
Awards and Acknowledgements
Jan Wallander and Tom Hedelius Foundation Scholarship, for doctoral studies abroad, appr. USD 100,000 (2012)
Research acknowledged in Macquarie Research, Quantamentals: “Rethinking Value” (2015)
Asenath Marie and Duncan Merriwether Fellowship, for potential to conduct quality research (2016)
Research acknowledged in Macquarie Research, Quantamentals: “Know Your Value” (2016)
Reci
The Abacus editorial board's "Best Manuscript
2016 Award" (2017)
PSC-CUNY Research Award (2019)
Curriculum Innovation Award - EY Excellence Fund (2021)
Where You May Have Met Me
Nordic Accounting Conference, Copenhagen, 2012
NYU Summer camp, New York University, 2013
Burton Workshop, Columbia University, 2013-2016
CAFR, Hong Kong PolyU, 2013
AAA, New York, 2016
RAST, Wharton, 2016
Wharton Spring Accounting Conference, Wharton, 2017
JBFA, Hong Kong PolyU, 2017
Cornell Financial Reporting Mini-Camp, Cornell, 2017
AAA, San Diego, 2017
RAST, IESE Business School, 2017
PhD Rookie Recruiting Camp, Miami, 2017
AAA, San Fransisco, 2018
ABR/CJAR Accounting 2019 Conference
Past and Current Affiliations
Stockholm School of Economics, Department of Accounting (PhD student): 2010-2011
New York University, Stern School of Business, Department of Accounting (visiting PhD student): 2012-2013
Columbia University, Columbia Business School, Department of Accounting (PhD student): 2013-2018
Swedish House of Finance: 2015-2018
American Accounting Association: 2016-
Member of the Abacus Editorial Board: 2017-
Ad hoc reviewer for Accounting and Business Research: 2017-
Ad hoc reviewer for Journal of Accounting Research: 2020-
Invitations to present or discuss
Baruch College
Euroclear Sweden
IESE Business School,
Miami University
Pace University
The University of California-Irvine
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of Southern California
The University of Texas at Dallas
Yale School of Management
The MIT Asia 2018 Conference
The American Accounting Association’s 2018 annual meeting
Hong Kong PolyU
Rutgers University
Stockholm School of Economics
ESMT Berlin
The ABR/CJAR 2019 conference
University of Memphis
© 2023 Erik Johannesson. All Rights Reserved.