Michael Maier, PhD, CPA, CGA

Contact

Associate Professor, Alberta School of Business - Department of Accounting and Business Analytics

Email: msmaier@ualberta.ca
Phone: (780) 248-1275
Address: 2-30 Business Building
11203 Saskatchewan Drive NW

Edmonton AB

T6G 2R6

Associate Dean MBA, Alberta School of Business - MBA Office

Email: msmaier@ualberta.ca

Overview

About

Education:

PhD in Business Administration - University of Iowa
BCom with Distinction - University of Alberta

Awards:

2015 Mackenzie MBA Teaching Excellence Award
2010 Mackenzie MBA Teaching Excellence Award

Professional Designations:

Member of Chartered Professional Accountants of Alberta (CPA)
Institute for Corporate Directors, Director (ICD.D)

Research

Research Interests

Experimental Economics
Behavioral Finance
Accounting Regulation
Large Language Models in Financial Market Research
Use of AI in Costing Models
Fair-Value Accounting

Teaching

Teaching Interests

Financial Accounting
Financial Statement Analysis
Valuation

Courses

ACCTG 523 - Accounting Information and Internal Decision Making

Accounting concepts used by managers in planning and decision-making. The course introduces concepts of cost and profit behavior, contribution margin, and activity-based costing, as well as relevant costs and revenues for production, marketing and capital budgeting decisions. The course also introduces students to the management planning and control system and its components - budgets, variance analysis, performance evaluation in centralized and decentralized organizations, and management compensation plans. The importance of designing a system to fit the organizations' strategy is emphasized. Prerequisite: ACCTG 501.

Fall Term 2025

ACCTG 812 - Financial Reporting for Managers and Analysts

Useful both as a stand-alone course and as a foundation for further study in financial statement analysis. Provides further depth in balance sheet valuation and income measurement in order to enhance students' ability to use financial accounting as a management tool. Restricted to students registered in the MFM Program.

Spring Term 2025

BUS 888 - Introduction to Business

This course provides an introduction to business and the MBA program. Focuses on the introduction and development of case analysis, critical thinking and technical business skills that will be used throughout the program. Restricted to students registered in the MBA China Program.

Spring Term 2025

MMA 601 - Business Foundations and Strategic Decision Making

Students are introduced to business fundamentals in the first session followed by second session that delves deep into the dynamic world of data-driven strategy, cultivating invaluable skills in utilizing data to frame decisions effectively. Restricted to students registered in the MMA Program. Non-MMA students require consent of home dept and the Masters Programs Office.

Fall Term 2025

Browse more courses taught by Michael Maier

Scholarly Activities

Research - CGA Alberta Research Grant ($20,000)

2011 to 2012

Awarded to support accounting research.

Research - Publications

Emergence of information aggregation to rational expectations equilibria in markets populated by biased heuristic traders. (2024) Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization,Volume 228. (with Karim Jamal and Shyam Sunder)

The cost of transfusing a unit of red blood cells: a costing model for Canadian hospital use. (2017). Vox Sanguinis ISBT Science Series, Vol 12 (3), June: 375-380. (with O. Lagerquist, D. Poseluzny, G. Werstiuk, J. Slomp, S. Nahirniak and G. Clarke)

Simple Agents, Intelligent Markets. (2017). Computational Economics, Vol 49 (4), April: 653-675. (with Karim Jamal and Shyam Sunder)

Environmental Liabilities and the Move to IFRS for Canadian Resource Companies: Discount Rates and Diversity in Practice. (2017). Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal (with Giovanna Michelon and Thomas Schneider)

Public Information Precision and Coordination Failure: An Experiment. (2016). Journal of Accounting Research, Vol 54 (3), September: 941-986. (with Sanjay Banerjee)

Cognition in Spatial Dispersion Games. (2005) in Rami Zwick and Amnon Rapoport (Editors) Experimental Business Research, Volume III: Marketing, Accounting and Cognitive Perspectives, Kluwer, Nowell, MA. (with Andreas Blume and Douglas V. DeJong)

Enforced Standards Versus Evolution by General Acceptance: A Comparative Study of E-Commerce Privacy Disclosure and Practice in The US and UK. (2005). Journal of Accounting Research Vol 43 ( I), March: 73-96. (with Karim Jamal and Shyam Sunder)

Regulation and The Marketplace. (2004). Regulation Magazine. Vol 26 (4), Winter Issue. Published by The Cato Institute, Washington, D.C: January, pp 38·41 . (with Karim lamal and Shyam Sunder)

Privacy in E-Commerce: Development of Reporting Standards, Disclosure and Assurance Services in an Unregulated Market. (2003). Journal of Accounting Research, May. Vol 41 (2): 285-309. (with Karim Jamal and Shyam Sunder)

Research - SSHRC Standard Research Grant ($58,662)

2011 to 2015

"Does fair value accounting discipline markets or increase volatility and destabilize markets” Principal Investigator: Michael Maier Co-Applicants: Karim Jamal, Thomas Schneider

Teaching - University of Alberta TLEF Award ($50,000)

2017 to 2019

Awarded by the University of Alberta Center for Teaching and Learning to support innovative teaching methodologies. Co-applicant: Emily Block