Michel Magnan, PhD, FRSC, FCPA Auditor, FCA, ASC, C.Dir

Michel Magnan is Distinguished University Research Professor and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chair in Corporate Governance at Concordia University (John Molson School of Business). He holds a PhD in Business Administration from the University of Washington, is a Fellow Chartered Professional Accountant (FCPA) and an administrateur de sociétés certifié (ASC)/Chartered Director.

In 2014, he was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada. In 2018, he was appointed a Distinguished Member of Ordre de l'excellence en éducation du Québec. He received the Yvan Allaire Medal of Governance from the Royal Society of Canada in 2023. In 2024, he was given the Haim Falk Award for his contribution to accounting thought by the Canadian Academic Accounting Association. 

His research activities are focused on financial reporting, financial statement analysis, governance, performance and compensation management, corporate social responsibility, and environmental and ethical issues. He has published more than 150 articles on these topics in academic and professional journals, and his research findings have been presented at numerous national and international academic and professional conferences.

He is a Past Editor in Chief of Contemporary Accounting Research.  

Dr. Magnan is actively involved in the business and professional communities. He was a member of Canada’s Accounting Standards Board from 2011 until 2017. He is currently a member of the board of directors of Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec (Mouvement Desjardins/Desjardins Group) and Chair of its Audit and Inspection Committee. He is also a trustee of the Concordia University Employees Retirement Plan and a member of its investment subcommittee. In the past, he has served on the boards of directors of Institute for the Governance of Private and Public Organizations, Société de développement commercial Montréal Centre-Ville, Fondation Montréal Centre-Ville, Desjardins General Insurance Group, Desjardins Securities Inc. and Canadian Academic Accounting Association.

Dr. Magnan served as Associate Dean at JMSB from 2002 to 2007. 

He has received awards and prizes from various organizations and his research has received funding from a variety of agencies, including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture.

Dr. Magnan is often quoted in the local, provincial and national media on issues connected to financial reporting and governance.

Education

PhD (University of Washington)
MBA (McGill University)
BAA (HEC Montréal)
ASC (Université Laval)

Areas of expertise

• Accounting
• Environmental and social performance and disclosure
• Executive compensation
• Financial reporting
• Financial statement analysis
• Governance

Dr. Magnan has been teaching since 1982. His teaching background covers most topics in accounting (financial statement analysis, advanced financial accounting, auditing, management controls, etc.). He currently teaches at the MBA, EMBA and Ph.D. levels courses in business valuation, financial reporting, research and management controls. He has supervised or co-supervised 45 graduate students for their thesis or essay, including 26 doctoral students who are now faculty members in universities across North America and even Asia.

He has extensive experience in executive education in several organizations, including Ordre des CA, CPA Canada, Desjardins, RONA. He is an instructor at Collège des administrateurs de sociétés.

In 2009, Dr. Magnan obtained one of the 26 Bourses d'excellence en enseignement de la gestion granted by the Ministère de l'Éducation, loisirs et sports. In 2018, he was appointed a Distinguished Member of Ordre de l'excellence en éducation du Québec.

Over the years, Dr. Magnan has held several visiting teaching appointments in overseas business schools such as Aarhus Business School, ESSEC Business School, Toulouse Business School, Université Toulouse-Capitole, HEC Genève, Université de Rennes I IGR.

He has published several cases, the most recent ones being:

Mesny, A., St-Onge, S., Magnan, M. 2021. Chairman of the board Eric Molson and corporate strategy: letting the CEOs do their jobs… or not. Revue internationale de cas en gestion – International Journal of Case Studies in Management 19(1), March.

St-Onge, Magnan, M., Mesny, A. 2021. La quête de principes et d’une saine gouvernance chez Molson. Revue internationale de cas en gestion – International Journal of Case Studies in Management 19(1), March.

Magnan, M., St-Onge, S., Mesny, A. 2021. Confronting Boardroom Politics at Molson (A, B). Revue internationale de cas en gestion – International Journal of Case Studies in Management 19(2), June.

Mesny, A., Magnan, M., St-Onge, S. 2021. Juggling with Shareholders' Expectations: The Molson-Coors Merger. Revue internationale de cas en gestion – International Journal of Case Studies in Management 19(2), June.

Recent Refereed and Forthcoming Journal Articles (2020-2021)

Fabrizi, M.,Ipino, E., Magnan, M., Parbonetti, A. 2021. Do Foreign Cash Holdings Generate Uncertainty for Analysts? European Accounting Review, DOI:10.1080/09638180.2021.1945939

Filip, A.,Hammami, A., Huang, Z., Jeny, A., Magnan, M., Moldovan, R. 2021. Convergence inMotion: A Review of Fair Value Levels’ Relevance, Accounting in Europe, DOI: 10.1080/17449480.2021.1912370

Fabrizi, M.,Ipino, E., Magnan, M., Parbonetti, 2021. A. Real Regulatory Capital Managementand Dividend Payout: Evidence from Available-For-Sale Securities. Journal ofBusiness Finance and Accounting, 1–22.https://doi.org/10.1111/jbfa.12525

Filip, A., Hammami,A., Huang, Z., Jeny, A., Magnan, M., Moldovan, R. 2021. The Value Relevance ofFair Value Levels: Time Trends under IFRS and U.S. GAAP, Accounting in Europe, 18:2, 196-217, DOI:10.1080/17449480.2021.1900581

Bui, L., Magnan, M., Moldovan, R. Financial Analysis in Banking: The Challenge of Segment Reporting. Accounting Perspectives.  http://doi.org/10.1111/1911-3838.12264

Naaman, C., Magnan, M., Yao, L., Hammami, A. 2021. Credit unions vs.commercial banks: who takes more risk?  Research in International Business andFinance 55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ribaf.2020.101340

Ben Ali, C., Boubaker, S.; Magnan, M. 2020. The Role and Effectiveness ofAuditors in Firms where Family Control Coexists with Large Blockholders. Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory39(4), 31-55. https://doi.org/10.2308/AJPT-17-147.

Tadros, H.,Magnan, M., Boulianne, E. 2020. Reliability of Non-FinancialEnvironmental Performance Indicators: Empirical Evidences from DisclosureDeterminants. Journal of FinancialReporting and Accounting 10(1), 62-96. https://doi.org/10.1108/SAMPJ-05-2018-0125.

Hammami, A.,Fortin, S., Magnan, M. 2020. Fair Value’s Effects on Closed-End Funds’ Discountsand Premia: Is Level 3 the Sole Perpetrator? Managerial Finance 46(8),1001-1022. https://doi.org/10.1108/MF-04-2018-0163.

Hammami, A.,Fortin, S., Magnan, M. 2020. Re-exploring Fair Value Accounting and ValueRelevance: An Examination of Underlying Securities. Abacus. https://doi.org/10.1111/abac.12186

Gutierrez, L.,Cormier, D., Magnan, M. 2020. General propensity for inter-organizationalenvironmental disclosure imitation: an international perspective. International Journal of SustainableDevelopment and World Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504509.2020.183325

Recent Book Chapters

      Campbell, B., Magnan, M., Normand, R. 2021. Chapitre 15 - Les enjeux de la transformationnumérique pour le secteur financier. In Le Québecéconomique 9 – Perspectives et défi s de la transformation numérique(Ed. : N. de Marcellis-Warin, B. Dostie). Pp 399-415

Michel Magnan en entrevue avec Le Devoir

Refereed Conference Proceedings

For earlier conference proceedings please refer to Dr. Magnan's CV.

Refereed Conference Presentations

See Michel Magnan's CV for further details.

Invited Research Talks and Workshops

Over the years, Michel Magnan has presented his work at hundreds of conferences at the national and international levels such as the American Accounting Association, the European Accounting Association, the Canadian Academic Accounting Assocation, the Academy of Management, the Society of Business Ethics, the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada or the Association francophone de comptabilité. He also presented his work at workshops in several universities around the world. 

Distinguished University Research Professor.Concordia University. 2021.

Dean’s Award – Distinguished Scholar (Established).John Molson School of Business. 2019.

Distinguished Member, Ordre de l'excellence en éducation du Québec. 2018.

Best Public Interest Paper Award for The Effect ofDisclosure Regulation and Guidelines on the Association between EnvironmentalDisclosure and Environmental Performance. Southeast Regional meeting, AmericanAccounting Association (coauthored with Hani Tadros). 2017.

Most Highly Cited paper, Management Accounting Research. Rodrigue, M.; Magnan, M.; Boulianne, E. 2013. Stakeholders’influence on environmental strategy and performance indicators: A managerialperspective. Management Accounting Research, 24(4), 301-316

Fellow, Royal Society of Canada (2014)

Provost’s Circle, Concordia University (2015)

Best Paper Award for 2015, Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences. Sur, S.; Magnan, M.;Cordeiro, J. 2015. Disentangling CEO Compensation: A Simultaneous ExaminationOf Time, Industry, And Firm-Level Effects. CanadianJournal of Administrative Sciences 32(1): 30-46.

Best Research Paper Award, Canadian Institute of CharteredBusiness Valuators. 2008 Cormier, Denis; Lapointe-Antunes, Pascale; Magnan,Michel. Do Investors See ThroughDistributable Cash?

Best paper award in Strategic Management, ASAC 2008.Sur, Sujit; Lvina, Elena;Magnan, Michel. WhyDo Boards Differ? Because Owners Do!

Best case award.CAAA 2005. Magnan, Michel; St-Onge, Sylvie; André, Paul. Gouvernance etrémunération des dirigeants: le cas d’Abitibi-Price 1994-2003

Best Paper Award for the IFSAM-ASAC 2000. Renaud, Stéphane; St-Onge, Sylvie and Magnan, Michel. The Impact of Share Purchase Planson Individual Performance

ANBAR Award for Citation Excellence (StrategicManagement Journal). Magnan, Michel; St-Onge, Sylvie. 1998

Gaetan Morin Award for the Best Emerging Researcher,HEC-Montréal

C.D. MellorAward, Ordre des Comptables Agréés. Cormier, Denis; Magnan, Michel. 1996. Lediscours environnemental contenu dans les rapports annuels des firmescanadiennes : une analyse des stratégies de divulgation

Best Paper Award, Human Resources Division, Administrative Sciences Association ofCanada 1995 conference. Magnan,Michel; St-Onge, Sylvie; Thorne, Linda.

C.D. MellorAward, Ordre des Comptables Agréés du Québec. Cormier, Denis; Magnan, Michel.1992. Évaluation du risque denon-continuité de l’exploitation

Second Best Paper, CAAA 1990 annual conference