On 22 May 2025, the UGO prizes for outstanding Bachelor's and Master's theses from the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics were awarded at Gräflicher Park Bad Driburg.
We are very proud that Mahdi Rahali was honoured for his Master's thesis on "Covid-19-related insolvency suspensions and financial health of German firms". This is the second time in a row that a student from the Taxation, Accounting and Finance Master's programme has won the UGO prize for his Master's thesis. The thesis was supervised by Prof Dr Urska Kosi (Chair of Financial Accounting and Auditing).
It analyses the effects of the insolvency suspension introduced during the pandemic on the financial health of German firms. The finding reveal that the suspension did not lead to exploitation by insolvent firms, but rather temporarily supported solvent firms and thereby helped to stabilise the economy. The work thus provides important insights for science, practice and politics in dealing with crises and insolvency law.
Now, Mahdi Rahali is a doctoral candidate in the TAF department and is continuing to work on his research project under TRR 266 Accounting for Transparency. We congratulate him warmly!
