FEB alumnus Henk-Jan Nanninga wins Ernst & Young Master Thesis Award Accountancy

Accountancy alumnus Henk-Jan Nanninga of the Faculty of Economics and Business has been awarded the Master Thesis Award Accountancy 2010, with prize money of 3,000 euro. He graduated cum laude with his thesis on the influence of measurement of financial instruments at banks and its effect on economic trends. Last week Ernst & Young awarded the annual Master Thesis Awards for the fifth time.

The jury assessment of Naninga’s thesis says: “The subject of the thesis is very topical and practically relevant, Henk-Jan presents a clever analysis of the relation between financial reporting of banks and the economical crisis, a study from which the experts can learn a lot.” Henk-Jan Nanninga wrote his thesis Marking-to-Market or Marking-over-the-Market? The Influence of Measurement of Financial Instruments at European banks on Procyclicality last academic year to complete his Master in Accountancy at the University of Groningen.

Convincing the jury

With the Master Thesis Award Accountancy, Ernst & Young aims to encourage writing (good) academic theses. Out of the entries in the academic year 2009-2010, the jury nominated six candidates to run for the title. On the night of the competition on 24 August, the candidates were given two minutes to present their thesis, after which they were interrogated about their topic by a fellow candidate. Finally, every candidate was given one minute to convince the jury of the fact that he or she should win the prize.

"Overwhelmed"

Henk-Jan about the competition: "I was impressed with the quality of the other candidates. That’s why I was quite overwhelmed when the jury appointed me as winner. Although I am still going to finish my degree in philosophy, I hope this is the start of a great career in accountancy.” The second and third prize were given to Joes van ‘t Leven (Nijenrode) and Raymond Swager (Vrije Universiteit). They won prize money of 2,000 and 1,000 euros, respectively.