Dr. Herman van Brenk RA

Dr. Herman van Brenk RA is Associate Professor at Nyenrode Business University. He is part of Nyenrode's Faculty Research Center for Accounting, Auditing & Control. His research area is focused on enriching accountancy with insights from psychology, philosophy, and sociology. He makes use of experimental and critical research.

Van Brenk received a Master’s of Science in Accountancy (2008) and a PhD (2017) both from Nyenrode Business Universiteit. He is also registered as a certified public accountant in the Netherlands (2011) and worked in auditing practice from 2005 to 2014 for both Big 4 and non–Big 4 accounting firms.

His dissertation was titled ‘Compensation Incentives and Personality Traits: Three Studies on their Joint Effects on Auditor Judgment and Decision Making’. Herman has received the Best Paper Award at the European Auditing Research Network Symposium (2017) for one of his dissertation papers.

Van Brenk is an active member of the academic society. He frequently presents his work at international conferences and university workshops. In addition, he reviews and discusses papers for international conferences and journals. Herman has published in Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, European Accounting Review, International Journal of Auditing, Economisch Statistische Berichten, Maandblad voor Accountancy en Bedrijfseconomie, Goed Bestuur en Toezicht.

Van Brenk has an important role in monitoring the quality of theses at the Bachelor’s and Master’s levels in the Accountancy program. Further, he is involved in teaching an academic research course and in supervising and examining theses at the Master’s level. Finally, Herman has developed a profession’s philosophy course for auditors and he has a reading group with students and alumni to think about the accountancy profession from different perspectives.

International activities

Van Brenk was a visiting scholar at the Fisher School of Accounting of the University of Florida from February to April 2016. Further, he conducts research with coauthors from the University of Florida, University of Central Florida, University of South Florida, VU University, and Northeastern University.

Interests

Walking, thinking and reading

Most relevant publications

• Asare, S.K., Van Brenk, H., & Demek, K.C. (2023). Evidence on the homogeneity of personality traits within the auditing profession. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, in press.
• Van Brenk, H. & Majoor, B. (2022). Evidence on the effects of an audit quality bonus. European Accounting Review, in press.
• Van Brenk, H., Renes, R., & Trompeter, G.M. (2022). Auditing in the public interest: Reforming the profession by building on the strengths of the existing accounting firms. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 83, Article 102184.
• Borkus, A., De Boer, H., Van Brenk, H., & Van Nieuw Amerongen, N. (2022). The effects of self-esteem and perspective-taking on group auditor’s review actions. International Journal of Auditing, 26(2), 61-77.
• Van Brenk, H., Majoor, B., & Wright, A. (2021). The effects of profit-sharing plans, client importance, and reinforcement sensitivity on audit quality. Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, 40(1), 107-131.