Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) in the Netherlands has announced the Duff & Phelps Chair in Business Analysis & Valuation, the first endowed professorship in Europe to concentrate on connections between capital markets and financial reporting. The professorship is funded and supported by independent financial advisory and investment banking firm Duff & Phelps, which opened its Amsterdam office in 2003 and has a growing presence in the European market, with additional offices in London, Paris, and Munich.

Professor Erik Peek has joined RSM as the first to serve in this new role, focusing on the concept of business valuation as the financial quantification of a company’s strategy. Peek is co-author of Business Analysis and Valuation: IFRS Edition, considered an essential text by RSM, the London School of Economics, HEC Paris, the University of Mannheim and other leading business schools around the world.

“To understand today’s global business dynamic, students must be able to accurately and fairly determine the worth of a wide range of assets—and today’s announcement places an unprecedented amount of academic focus on valuation skills,” said Professor George S. Yip, Dean of RSM. “RSM is pleased to have Duff & Phelps’ partnership in developing our innovative valuation programme. We feel equally fortunate to have an educator of Professor Peek’s caliber join our ranks and expand the body of knowledge that exists around valuation issues.”

Peek will join RSM’s Department of Accounting & Control, where his research activities closely fit with the department’s research on financial reporting, firms’ disclosure policies and the functioning of capital markets. In his role at RSM, Peek will also research the European risk premium report, a collection of data and analysis to help finance professionals assess risk and more accurately estimate the cost of capital for purposes of business valuation, capital budgeting, feasibility studies and corporate finance decisions. Peek will teach courses titled Financial Analysis and Advanced Financial Statement Analysis, both of which fall under the RSM’s MSc in Finance & Investments and MScBA in Accounting & Control curricula.

“The global financial crisis has led to increased calls for transparency and accountability in business, underscoring the need for reliable valuation expertise. Professor Peek and his program will help address market-driven demands for valuation analytics—a need that is bound to grow as regulatory and industry leaders undertake new measures that promote the accuracy and integrity of pricing information,” said Henk Oosterhout, managing director and head of Duff & Phelps’ Netherlands office. “Through cutting-edge classroom instruction and research, we can better prepare the next generation of financial professionals to be responsible and technically astute, with strong valuation and communication skills.”

Before joining RSM, Peek served as visiting associate professor at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and associate professor at Maastricht University. He earned his M.A. in business economics at Tilburg University in 1996 and his Ph.D. in accounting at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 2001.

“Fascinating valuation questions face the business community as it moves beyond the unprecedented events of the last year and a half, and there is a strong need to reconcile the kind of valuation information that firms are currently accustomed to providing and the greater depth of valuation information that market participants expect going forward,” said Peek. “By collaborating with my fellow scholars and exchanging ideas, we will strengthen and expand the resources available to tomorrow’s business leaders. I am grateful to RSM and Duff & Phelps for the opportunity to pursue this exciting academic endeavor.”