ACMAR 2025: Meeting the Community at WHU

On March 6 – 7 the Institute for Management Accounting & Control (IMC), part of WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, hosted the 22^nd Annual Conference for Management Accounting Research (ACMAR). The event welcomed over 130 researchers to the school’s campus in Vallendar to discuss their latest projects, exchange ideas, and network — bridging the gap between qualitative and quantitative research and practice.

Professor Utz Schäffer, Director of the IMC, opened the event before handing the stage over to Professor Isabella Grabner of the WU Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, who, in her keynote, spoke of the central role that corporate culture plays in controlling. The second keynote of the day was held by Sebastian Stern (DR 2003) of the Deutsche Bahn’s EV Group Finance, who gave valuable insights into the transport service provider’s financial transformation.

On the second day of the conference, Professor Lukas Goretzki of the Stockholm School of Economics reflected on how incredibly challenging it can be for controllers to define their own identity.

This year, the conference organizers awarded the Best Paper Award, represented by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), for the first time. The winner were the authors behind “Incentive and Sorting Effects of Challenging Performance Targets: Evidence from the Field”: Professor Martin Artz, and Jens Böke (both from the Institute for Management Accounting and Control at the University of Münster), together with Professor Martin Holzhacker (Michigan State University) and Michal Matejka (Arizona State University). The panel of judges praised the research team in particular for their innovative approach, in which they examine weather data to better understand how, for example, heavy rain or sunny days influence consumer behavior — information of great use to today’s controllers and managers.

Once again, the event also hosted the doctoral colloquium preceding the ACMAR, allowing ten doctoral candidates to receive feedback from their peers and experienced faculty and to discuss their latest research findings. As usual, the conference provided the perfect atmosphere for researchers to network and exchange in discussions about their profession. “The conference has once again been a complete success,” said Professor Schäffer, “and we’re already looking forward to the next ACMAR, which will take place from March 5 – 6 in Vallendar.”