management accounting related research topics

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150 Original Accounting Research Paper Topics

Our academic experts understand how hard it can be to come up with original accounting research paper topics for assignments. Students are often dealing with multiple responsibilities and trying to balance numerous deadlines. Searching the web or class notes takes up a lot of time. Therefore, we have put together our list of 150 accounting research topics that students can choose from or gather inspiration from.

Managerial Accounting Topics for College Students

This area of study has tremendous upside as more businesses rely on managerial accountants to bring innovative changes to their organizations. Here is a list of topics for research paper in this area:

Differences between financial accounting and managerial accounting.
Managerial accounting in the 21 st century.
The impact of managerial accounting in big businesses.
The major components of activity-based costing.
How managerial accounting affects international finance.
The impact managerial accounting has on human resources.
The major components of capital budgeting.
How managerial accounting affects internal business decisions.
Effective ways of adopting managerial accounting into small businesses.
Differences between variable costing and absorption costing.

Accounting Blog Topics for Today’s Generation

The following collection can be considered accounting hot topics because they deal with the issues that are most important to today’s generation of accountants that utilize advanced software to keep businesses successful:

Cost of manufacturing goods overseas.
The cost of instituting anti-harassment programs.
Inventory and cost of products sold in the U.S.
Reinventing accounts payable processes.
Using best practices to boost the bottom line.
The cost of keeping human resources on staff.
Simplifying procedures in accounts payable.
The cost of updating internal systems with technology.
The cost-effectiveness of employee training.
Working capital increasing in large companies.

Advanced Accounting Topics

As students advance academically, they may want to consider these topics for research paper to earn higher scores in their classes. Here are some suggestions:

How to run an efficient large accounting department.
Red flags in outdated accounting processes.
Identifying unconventional processes in payment processes.
Utilizing paperless processes in small businesses.
Applying EDP to accounts payable processes.
The benefits of automating payables and receivables.
Outsourcing procurement processes to save money.
Automation to handle repetitive processes.
The need for diversifying skills in accounting.
The ways time affects seasonal cash flow.

Controversial Accounting Topics

Many accounting topics for research papers need to draw a reader’s attention right from the start. This list of topics is controversial and should accomplish just that:

The impact the Jobs Act will have on large businesses.
The positive effects tax cuts will have on small business.
The risks of offshore accounting on U.S. businesses.
The need to update software each year to avoid accounting problems.
How small businesses are falling behind in accounting practices.
The impact bonus depreciation allows businesses.
Applying to government relief programs.
Describe the role the internet has on accounting.
The trustworthiness of online accounting programs.
The negatives of auditing collusion.

Intermediate Accounting Topics

These accounting paper topics are meant for students that have acquired skills in writing but may not have developed the skills needed to write a top-notch paper quite yet. They should be easy to research given a proper planning period:

Discuss why companies need to incorporate automated processes.
The problems with ethics in accounting practices.
Technology advancements that improve accounting accuracy.
The problem with accuracy in decade-old software.
Explain the best way to help accountants work manually.
Describe the historical prospect of best accounting practices.
The most effective way to become a certified accountant.
Compare accounting systems that improve processes.
The quick flow of data and the value on today’s accountants.
The negatives that come from relying on accounting software.

Interesting Accounting Topics

Sometimes you need to consider accounting project topics that would be great for numerous situations. You may need to present before a class or write a paper for a discussion panel. These ideas may suit your needs:

Explain the concept of accounting theory to practice.
The theories behind normative accounting practices.
The effect theories in accounting have on businesses.
Challenges of taking theory to practice.
The major changes in accounting practices over the last 25 years.
The impact the internet has had on accounting ethics.
Accounting practices in the 21 st century.
The challenges of accounting technologies on fast-growing companies.
The dangers the internet poses toward ethical accounting.
Describe the difficulties that come from putting theories into practice.

Accounting Projects Topics for a Short Project

Some cost accounting topics are worthy of an audience but need to be completed within a tight deadline. These project ideas are easy to research and can be completed within one week:

Use of efficient accounting software in tax season.
Applicable Professional and Legal Standards.
The difficulties in using offshore accounting.
The most effective way of managing earnings.
The development of cash flow in the United Kingdom.
The development of cash flow in the United States.
The best way to manage personal finances.
The effect financial markets have on personal spending.
Debt management in large corporations.
Accounting challenges during the pandemic.

Forensic Accounting Research Topics

This is another area of accounting that has a promising future for small to large businesses. Here are forensic accounting research paper topics you can use if you are interested in this booming segment:

Methods for identifying instances of money laundering.
The government’s right to search private accounts.
The use of tax records to report possible crimes.
Class action litigation cases in the United States.
Court use of forensic accounting in criminal cases.
Forensic accounting to develop better anti-fraud programs.
A company’s reliance on forensic accounting to prevent theft.
Establishing controls in emerging international markets.
Forensic accountants and their role in court proceedings.
Natural disaster and loss quantification practices.

Accounting Theory Topics for College

Good accounting thesis topics should mirror personally important issues. Essay ideas should reflect the things you want to learn more about and explore in-depth. Here is a list that may pique your interest:

Impact of accounting research on financial practices.
Scientific research studies in modern economies.
Modern accounting concepts and applications.
The change in accounting practices over the last two decades.
Describe the components of Positive Theory.
Marketplace discipline across major industries.
Major accounting theories and techniques in big businesses.
The use of technology to reduce accounting costs.
Technology theory in the use of modern accounting.
Risk management and the most effective theories.

Accounting Dissertation Topics for Grad Students

The following topic ideas delve into some serious issues in accounting and are much more difficult to handle. These should be approached with the utmost academic determination to earn a master’s or a Ph.D.:

Compare accounting software versus manual accounting.
Tax management procedures in the 21 st century.
The risks of updated technology in small companies.
The costs associated with broader health care in the workplace.
The history of accounting in the 20 th century.
The best method of managing debts without difficulties.
Accounting problems caused by online transactions.
Cryptocurrency and its impact on modern accounting practices.
Forecasting jobs in the field of accounting.
The danger technology poses to the accounting industry.

Current Accounting Topics for College

If you don’t have enough time to research current topics in accounting, these ideas will help you save time. There are plenty of online resources discussing current issues and you can also find information in the library:

Compare and contrast different cryptocurrencies.
The definition of a successful and modern business account.
Non-profit organizations and tax reductions.
Sports accounting in today’s world of social media.
The financial benefits of having a second stream of revenue.
Financial stock management of overall earnings.
The relationship between corporate donations and accounting.
Minimizing risks in big and small-sized businesses.
The impact that tax deductions have on big businesses.
Financial strategies to ensure employee retention.

Hot Topics in Accounting for a Graduate Level Course

These are the topics you should be considered for a graduate-level course if you want to make a great impression on the professor. Just be sure to do your due diligence and research your selected topic thoroughly:

The instances of “cooking books” in the 21 st century.
The best approach to update accounting systems.
Fraud cases currently in the United States.
The importance of forensic accountants in fraud cases.
The reasons account reports have government regulations.
The benefits of incorporating computerized accounting.
The need for companies to make changes to accounting departments.
Evolving accounting practices that reduce the risk of theft.
The effects offshore gambling has had on accounting.
Privacy protocols to keep accounting practices secret.

Financial Accounting Topics Being Discussed Today

Topics in accounting are rooted in financial processes that date back centuries. Yet, there are still many innovative ideas that drive business success. Consider these topics for an essay on issues that are current for today’s world:

The evolution of accounting practices over the last century.
The biggest ethical concerns about accounting.
Minimizing taxes when you are a small company.
Accounting software that will cut company costs.
The best way to lower taxes through accounting practices.
Describe the way managerial accounting is affected by international markets.
Explain the major factors of management earnings.
The most accurate way to figure out the estimated tax on a company’s earnings.
The quickest way to become a certified accountant.
Describe how culture influences accounting practices.

Accounting Information Systems Research

The next set of topics are great for anyone wanting to combine accounting with technology. We put together this set to generate interest in this area:

The ways small businesses can benefit from advanced technologies.
Describe how IT affects financial analysis for reporting.
Explain how companies use AIS to collect and store data.
Explain the 10 elements used to understand AIS.
Rank the best accounting information systems.
The future of AIS in small business financial practices.
Explain how AIS eliminates the use of balance sheets.
AIS technologies save money in large businesses.
The future of AIS in small to mid-size businesses.
Describe the role of AIS in modern business.

Accounting Presentation Topics for College

These presentation topics cover a wide range of areas that are perfect for diverse interests. At the college level, students must conduct a lot of academic research to guarantee they have all the most relevant information needed to present on a great topic:

Describe how forensic accounting can reduce risk to small businesses.
Describe the challenges value and cost that managers deal with.
The biggest changes to accounting practices in the 21 st century.
The benefits of having separate controlling accounts.
The rapid flow of data and the importance of modern accountants.
Describe how forensic accountants conduct their investigations.
The most likely causes of financial instability in small businesses.
Explain the factors one must consider before investing.
Describe the differences between financial and management accounting.
Describe the impact of new taxation policies on managerial accounting.

What do you think of our accounting research topics? These are available for free and can be shared with other students. If you need a custom list of accounting topics, our academic experts can take your assignment details and provide you with original and simple accounting research topics to facilitate your project and help you earn a top grade. We can also provide you with writing, editing, and proofreading services to ensure your assignment is error-free and gets you the highest score possible.

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management accounting related research topics

101 Management Accounting Dissertation Topics Ideas

What are the dissertation topics in management accounting? Management accounting dissertation topics differ from those in financial accounting because management accounting is associated with the managerial aspects of accounting and finance in organizational structures. Management accounting research topics for undergraduates also include different aspects of managerial structures that are commonly operating in the accounting domain. […]

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What are the dissertation topics in management accounting?

Management accounting dissertation topics differ from those in financial accounting because management accounting is associated with the managerial aspects of accounting and finance in organizational structures. Management accounting research topics for undergraduates also include different aspects of managerial structures that are commonly operating in the accounting domain. Although there may be confusion among students when it comes to management accounting dissertation topics, however, we can guide you effectively in this regard.

Accounting Dissertation Topics
Finance Dissertation Topics
Account & Finance Dissertation Topics
Financial Accounting Dissertation Topics .
Business dissertation topics

List of Best Research Topics on management accounting for master’s and undergraduate college students.

If you are looking What are some coolest research topics in management accounting have a look at our extensively researched and carefully constructed list of dissertation topics in the management accounting domain. Below is the best-selected list of management accounting dissertation titles.

The Impact of Activity-Based Costing on Decision-Making in Service Industries
The Role of Management Accounting in Environmental Sustainability Practices
Cost-Benefit Analysis of Implementing Lean Accounting Techniques in Manufacturing Firms
The Use of Big Data Analytics in Management Accounting for Decision Support
Performance Measurement Systems and Their Influence on Managerial Decision-Making
The Effectiveness of Transfer Pricing Methods in Multinational Corporations
Cost Allocation Methods in Healthcare Organizations: A Comparative Analysis
The Role of Management Accounting in Corporate Governance and Ethical Decision-Making
Budgeting Techniques and Their Impact on Organizational Performance
The Integration of Management Accounting and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems
Activity-Based Budgeting: A Comparative Study of Its Application in Different Industries
The Influence of Management Accounting Information on Strategic Decision-Making
The Adoption of Target Costing in the Automotive Industry: Successes and Challenges
The Role of Management Accounting in Predictive Analytics for Financial Forecasting
Cost Management Strategies in the Hospitality Industry: A Case Study Approach
The Impact of Performance Measurement Systems on Employee Motivation and Behavior
The Use of Balanced Scorecards in Non-Profit Organizations: Effectiveness and Challenges
Strategic Cost Management in the Pharmaceutical Industry: Trends and Innovations
Management Accounting Practices in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs): A Comparative Analysis
The Integration of Sustainability Metrics into Management Accounting Systems
Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis in the Digital Economy: Challenges and Opportunities
The Role of Management Accounting in Supply Chain Management and Logistics
Risk Management in Management Accounting: Techniques and Best Practices
The Impact of Costing Systems on Pricing Decisions in the Retail Industry
Management Accounting in the Era of Industry 4.0: Adopting Digital Technologies
Performance Measurement and Incentive Systems: A Study of Their Alignment in Organizations
The Influence of Management Accounting Information on Investor Decision-Making
Costing Techniques in Service-Oriented Businesses: Lessons from the Financial Sector
The Role of Management Accounting in Merger and Acquisition Decisions
Value-Based Management: Implementing Value-Based Metrics in Decision-Making Processes
The Use of Management Accounting in Detecting and Preventing Fraudulent Activities
Cost Management Strategies in Global Supply Chains: Challenges and Solutions
The Application of Activity-Based Costing in Professional Service Firms
Management Accounting in the Digital Transformation of Healthcare Organizations
The Role of Management Accounting in Strategic Alliances and Collaborations
The Impact of Management Accounting Information on Firm Performance in Emerging Markets
Cost Management Practices in Family-Owned Businesses: Unique Challenges and Solutions
The Integration of Environmental Cost Accounting in Corporate Reporting
Management Accounting in the Context of Industry Disruption: Adaptation Strategies
The Influence of Cultural Factors on Management Accounting Practices in Multinational Companies
The Role of Management Accounting in Performance Evaluation and Compensation Systems
Cost Analysis of Outsourcing vs. In-House Production: A Comparative Study
The Application of Target Costing in the Software Development Industry
Management Accounting in Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs): Challenges and Best Practices
The Impact of Management Accounting Information on Shareholder Value Creation
Management accounting: finding the gaps between research and practice – a descriptive approach.
The role played by environmental management accounting in the sustainability of global environments: a review of the literature.
Management accounting and corporate political strategy: finding the missing links.
Management accounting education: investigating the roles of different teaching approaches.
Studying the impacts of stakeholders on management accounting practices.
Research in management accounting: challenges and opportunities available.
Asian management accounting: understanding the basics of the field.
Relationship between management accounting information and performance of firms in the UK.
Management accounting in China: focus on recent trends and developments.
International management accounting (IFM): uncovering the core competencies required.
Financial management and CIMS environment: focusing on the relationship.
Budgeting and management accounting: comparing small and medium companies.
Financial management and compulsive buying: challenges and solutions available.
Financial management practices in small versus medium organizations: a descriptive analysis.
Management accounting research: comparisons between intra-firm and interfirm domains.
Practicing corporate sustainability: a management accounting perspective.
Management accounting and the medical profession: how expertise is achieved?
Investigating the social aspects of management accounting: a systematic analysis.
Strategic management accounting: a review of literature from the past decade
Integrated information systems within the field of management accounting: a descriptive approach.
Crisis in management accounting: understanding the basics of the domain.
Financial management issues in social work departments: challenges and opportunities available.
Careers in management accounting: uncovering the motivating factors involved.
Errors and biases in management accounting systems: focus on the consequences.
Role of management accounting functions in integrated waste management decisions.
The role played by management accounting as a political resource: focus on embedded agency.
Studying the element of identity conflict in the management accounting profession: a descriptive approach.
Investigating the relationship between data-driven decision making and management accounting systems: a systematic study.
Identifying the management accounting controls in the biotech industry: a review of the literature.
Standardized management accounting: challenges and interventions involved.
Management accounting information systems and NGO performances: a comparative analysis of UK versus the USA.
Management accounting and measurement of organizational performance: uncovering the techniques to be used.
Environmental management accounting versus environmental cost accounting: focusing on the differencing factors.
Studying the effects of IT technologies on the domain of management accounting: a descriptive approach.
The budgeting process in the context of management accounting: a systematic analysis.

In conclusion, the field of management accounting offers a rich landscape of topics for dissertation research, ranging from traditional costing methods to cutting-edge practices in digital transformation and sustainability.

Ultimately, the chosen management accounting dissertation topic should align with the researcher’s interests, expertise, and career goals while addressing significant gaps in the existing literature. Through rigorous research methodology and critical analysis, dissertation studies in management accounting have the potential to contribute meaningfully to academic knowledge, managerial practices, and organizational success in the ever-evolving global marketplace.

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Accounting and Finance Thesis Topics

This page provides a comprehensive list of accounting and finance thesis topics designed to assist students in selecting an impactful subject for their thesis. Whether you are pursuing undergraduate, graduate, or postgraduate studies, the diverse array of topics presented here covers a broad spectrum of specialties within the field of accounting and finance. From traditional areas like audit and taxation to emerging fields like fintech and behavioral finance, this collection aims to cater to a variety of research interests and academic requirements. Each category is meticulously curated to inspire innovative thinking and encourage a deeper exploration of both established and contemporary issues in the discipline.

600 Accounting and Finance Thesis Topics

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Get 10% off with 24start discount code, browse accounting and finance thesis topics:.

Accounting Thesis Topics
Audit Thesis Topics
Banking Thesis Topics
Behavioral Finance Thesis Topics
Capital Markets Thesis Topics
Corporate Finance Thesis Topics
Corporate Governance Thesis Topics
Finance Thesis Topics
Financial Economics Thesis Topics
Financial Management Thesis Topics
Fintech Thesis Topics
Insurance Thesis Topics
International Finance Thesis Topics
Investment Thesis Topics
Management Accounting Thesis Topics
Personal Finance Thesis Topics
Public Finance Thesis Topics
Quantitative Finance Thesis Topics
Risk Management Thesis Topics
Taxation Thesis Topics

1. Accounting Thesis Topics

The impact of artificial intelligence on financial reporting and compliance.
Blockchain technology in accounting: disrupting traditional processes.
The role of ethical leadership in promoting sustainable accounting practices.
Comparative analysis of global accounting standards post-IFRS adoption.
Cultural influences on multinational accounting practices.
The future of green accounting in corporate sustainability initiatives.
Digital currencies and their accounting implications within multinational corporations.
The efficacy of automated accounting systems in small to medium enterprises.
Forensic accounting as a tool against cyber financial fraud.
Tax strategy and accounting ethics in the digital age.
Non-profit accounting challenges in a post-pandemic world.
Gig economy impacts on financial reporting and tax obligations.
Continuous auditing in real-time financial data environments.
Ethical conflicts in accounting decisions: a case study analysis.
The integration of blockchain for transparency in financial auditing.
Strategic management accounting techniques in agile organizations.
Predictive analytics in accounting and its impact on business strategy.
Cost management innovations in healthcare accounting.
Regulatory impacts on financial disclosures and corporate accounting.
Innovative financial planning tools for startup sustainability.
The role of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria in financial decision-making.
Public sector accountability and accounting reforms.
Big data analytics in financial statement analysis.
Adapting accounting frameworks for emerging markets.
The dynamics of accounting professionalism and ethical standards.
Real-time financial reporting: challenges and advantages.
Mergers and acquisitions: accounting for corporate restructuring.
Artificial intelligence in audit operations: reshaping traditional frameworks.
Corporate sustainability reporting: critical analysis of current practices.
Tax evasion strategies and their impact on international accounting standards.

2. Audit Thesis Topics

The effectiveness of continuous auditing in detecting and preventing fraud.
Implementing a risk-based auditing framework in emerging markets.
Enhancing corporate governance with robust audit committee functions.
The comparative reliability of external audits versus internal controls.
The impact of the latest regulatory frameworks on auditing standards.
Ensuring auditor independence in a complex corporate milieu.
Blockchain applications in enhancing audit trail transparency.
Strategies for cybersecurity audits in financial institutions.
Cultural impacts on audit practices in global organizations.
The future of auditing: integrating real-time data analytics.
The relationship between audit quality and investment decisions.
Leveraging machine learning for enhanced audit precision.
Auditing ethics in the face of financial technology innovations.
The role of internal audits in reinforcing cybersecurity measures.
Auditing challenges in decentralized platforms using blockchain technology.
Comparative study of traditional and modern audit methodologies.
The impact of data privacy regulations on audit practices globally.
Developing effective audit strategies for cloud-based accounting systems.
The role of audits in enhancing business resilience during economic downturns.
Fraud detection techniques in an AI-driven audit environment.
The effectiveness of environmental auditing in promoting corporate sustainability.
Auditing for non-financial information: challenges and methodologies.
Enhancing the transparency of public sector audits to improve trust.
Implementing forensic auditing techniques in corporate fraud detection.
The evolution of auditing standards in response to global financial crises.
The role of technology in transforming audit documentation and reporting.
Impact of auditor-client relationships on audit quality.
Strategies for overcoming challenges in cross-border audit practices.
Auditing supply chain operations for financial integrity and sustainability.
The future of regulatory audits in a dynamically changing global market.

3. Banking Thesis Topics

The future of digital banking post-COVID-19.
Analyzing the impact of blockchain technology on international banking transactions.
The role of central banks in managing digital currency implementations.
Sustainable banking practices: integrating ESG factors into bank operations.
The evolution of consumer banking behavior influenced by mobile technologies.
Cybersecurity strategies in banking: preventing breaches in a digital age.
The effectiveness of monetary policy in digital banking ecosystems.
Banking regulations and their impact on global economic stability.
Fintech innovations and their integration into traditional banking systems.
The impact of banking deserts on rural economic development.
Artificial intelligence in banking: reshaping customer service and risk management.
The role of ethical banking in promoting financial inclusion.
Impact of Brexit on UK banking: challenges and opportunities.
Stress testing in banks: approaches and implications for financial stability.
Consumer data protection in online banking: challenges and solutions.
The influence of microfinancing on developing economies.
The impact of interest rate changes on banking profitability.
Role of banking in supporting sustainable energy financing.
Technological disruptions in banking: a threat or an opportunity?
The effect of global banking regulations on emerging market economies.
Strategies for managing credit risk in post-pandemic recovery phases.
The growing role of Islamic banking in the global finance sector.
The impact of non-traditional banking platforms on financial services.
Data analytics in banking: enhancing decision-making processes.
Cross-border banking challenges in a globalized economy.
The future of branchless banking: implications for customer engagement.
Banking transparency and its effects on consumer trust.
The role of banks in facilitating international trade.
Innovations in mortgage banking and their impact on housing markets.
The effects of banking consolidation on competition and service delivery.

4. Behavioral Finance Thesis Topics

The psychological effects of financial losses on investment behavior.
Behavioral biases in financial decision-making: a case study of stock market investors.
The impact of social media on investor behavior and market outcomes.
Cognitive dissonance and its effect on personal financial planning.
The role of emotional intelligence in financial trading success.
Exploring the herding behavior in cryptocurrency markets.
Behavioral finance strategies to mitigate impulse spending.
The influence of cultural factors on investment decisions.
Psychological factors driving risk tolerance among millennials.
The effect of behavioral finance education on individual investment choices.
Overconfidence and trading: an analysis of its impact on stock returns.
Decision-making processes under financial stress: a behavioral perspective.
The role of behavioral factors in the success of financial advisement.
The impact of behavioral insights on retirement savings plans.
Anchoring bias in financial forecasting and market predictions.
The role of optimism and pessimism in financial markets.
Behavioral finance and its role in shaping sustainable investing.
Understanding the gap between perceived and actual financial knowledge.
Behavioral interventions to improve financial literacy.
The influence of personality traits on financial decision-making.
Behavioral economics: redesigning financial products for better decision outcomes.
The effectiveness of nudge theory in personal finance management.
The impact of financial anxiety on decision-making efficiency.
The behavioral aspects of financial negotiation.
Market sentiment analysis: behavioral finance in algorithmic trading.
The psychological impact of financial news on market movements.
Behavioral finance insights into crowd-funding behaviors.
Ethical considerations in behavioral finance research.
The influence of age and life stage on financial risk-taking.
Behavioral finance in corporate decision-making: case studies of strategic financial planning.

5. Capital Markets Thesis Topics

The future trajectory of global capital markets in the post-pandemic era.
Impact of quantitative easing on emerging market economies.
The role of technology in enhancing liquidity in capital markets.
Analysis of market efficiency in different economic cycles.
The effects of political instability on capital market performance.
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria and their impact on capital market trends.
Cryptocurrency as an emerging asset class in capital markets.
The role of sovereign wealth funds in global capital markets.
Algorithmic trading and its influence on market dynamics.
The impact of international sanctions on capital markets.
High-frequency trading: market benefits and systemic risks.
The role of capital markets in financing green energy initiatives.
Impact of fintech on traditional capital market structures.
Corporate bond markets and their responsiveness to economic changes.
The influence of central bank policies on capital market stability.
Market anomalies and behavioral economics: exploring the deviations from market efficiency.
The role of investor sentiment in capital market fluctuations.
Crowdfunding as an alternative financing mechanism in capital markets.
Regulatory challenges facing capital markets in developing countries.
The future of securitization post-global financial crisis.
Derivatives markets and their role in risk management.
The impact of technology IPOs on market perceptions.
Venture capital and its influence on market innovation.
Corporate governance and its effect on equity prices.
The role of market makers in maintaining market stability.
Ethical investing and its traction in the capital market.
The impact of demographic shifts on investment trends.
The interplay between macroeconomic policies and capital market growth.
Leveraging machine learning for capital market predictions.
The role of media in shaping public perceptions of capital markets.

6. Corporate Finance Thesis Topics

The impact of global economic shifts on corporate financing strategies.
Analyzing the role of corporate finance in driving sustainable business practices.
The influence of digital transformation on corporate financial management.
Risk management in corporate finance during uncertain economic times.
The effects of corporate financial restructuring on shareholder value.
Financing innovation: How corporations fund new technology investments.
The role of private equity in corporate finance.
Strategies for managing corporate debt in a fluctuating interest rate environment.
Impact of mergers and acquisitions on corporate financial health.
ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) factors in corporate finance decisions.
The future of corporate finance in the era of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
The role of financial analytics in optimizing corporate investment decisions.
Corporate finance challenges in emerging markets.
Venture capital and its impact on corporate growth.
Corporate financial transparency and its effect on investor relations.
The role of CFOs in navigating new global tax laws.
Financial technology innovations and their implications for corporate finance.
The impact of international trade agreements on corporate financing.
Corporate finance strategies in the healthcare sector.
The influence of shareholder activism on corporate financial policies.
The future of corporate banking relationships.
Capital allocation decisions in multinational corporations.
The role of artificial intelligence in financial forecasting and budgeting.
The impact of demographic changes on corporate finance strategies.
Managing financial risks associated with climate change.
The role of corporate finance in business model innovation.
Financing strategies for startups versus established firms.
The effect of corporate culture on financial decision-making.
Corporate governance and its influence on financial risk management.
The evolving landscape of securities regulations and its impact on corporate finance.

7. Corporate Governance Thesis Topics

The impact of governance structures on corporate sustainability and responsibility.
Board diversity and its effect on corporate decision-making processes.
Corporate governance mechanisms to combat corruption and enhance transparency.
The role of stakeholder engagement in shaping governance practices.
Analyzing the effectiveness of corporate governance codes across different jurisdictions.
The influence of technology on corporate governance practices.
Governance challenges in family-owned businesses.
The impact of corporate governance on firm performance during economic crises.
Shareholder rights and their enforcement in emerging market economies.
The future of corporate governance in the digital economy.
The role of ethics in corporate governance.
Corporate governance and risk management: interlinkages and impacts.
The effects of regulatory changes on corporate governance standards.
ESG integration in corporate governance.
The role of internal audits in strengthening corporate governance.
Corporate governance in non-profit organizations.
The influence of activist investors on corporate governance reforms.
The effectiveness of whistleblower policies in corporate governance.
Cybersecurity governance in large corporations.
Succession planning and governance in large enterprises.
The impact of international governance standards on local practices.
The role of governance in preventing financial fraud.
Corporate governance in the fintech industry.
The relationship between corporate governance and corporate social responsibility.
The impact of global economic policies on corporate governance.
Data privacy and security: Governance challenges in the information era.
The role of governance in managing corporate crises.
The impact of leadership styles on corporate governance effectiveness.
Corporate governance and its role in enhancing business competitiveness.
The evolving role of board committees in strategic decision-making.

8. Finance Thesis Topics

Financial implications of global climate change initiatives.
The future of financial markets in the face of geopolitical uncertainties.
The impact of microfinance on poverty alleviation in developing countries.
Cryptocurrency: emerging financial technology and its regulatory challenges.
The role of financial institutions in fostering economic resilience.
Innovations in financial products for an aging global population.
The impact of digital wallets on traditional banking systems.
Financial literacy and its role in promoting socio-economic equality.
The effect of fintech on the global remittance landscape.
Risk management strategies in finance post-global financial crisis.
The influence of behavioral finance on investment strategies.
The evolving role of central banks in digital currency markets.
Financing sustainable urban development.
The impact of artificial intelligence on personal finance management.
Peer-to-peer lending and its effect on traditional credit markets.
The role of finance in facilitating international trade and development.
The implications of Brexit on European financial markets.
Financial derivatives and their role in modern economies.
The effects of sanctions on financial transactions and economic stability.
The future of investment banking in a technology-driven world.
Financial models for predicting economic downturns.
The impact of financial education on consumer behavior.
Securitization of assets: benefits and risks.
The role of financial services in disaster recovery and resilience.
Emerging trends in global investment patterns.
Financial strategies for managing corporate mergers and acquisitions.
The influence of cultural factors on financial systems and practices.
The effectiveness of financial sanctions as a geopolitical tool.
The future of financial privacy in an interconnected world.
The role of finance in promoting renewable energy investments.

9. Financial Economics Thesis Topics

The economic impact of quantitative easing in developed versus emerging markets.
The implications of negative interest rates for global economies.
Economic predictors of financial market behavior in crisis periods.
The relationship between government debt and economic growth.
Economic consequences of income inequality on national financial stability.
The effects of consumer confidence on economic recovery.
The role of economic policy in shaping housing market dynamics.
The impact of global trade wars on financial economics.
The influence of demographic shifts on economic policy and financial markets.
Macroeconomic factors influencing cryptocurrency adoption.
The role of economic theory in developing financial regulation.
The impact of tourism economics on national financial health.
Economic strategies for combating hyperinflation.
The role of sovereign wealth funds in global economic stability.
Economic analyses of environmental and resource economics.
The implications of fintech on traditional economic models.
Economic impacts of global pandemic responses by governments.
The future of labor markets in a digitally transforming economy.
Economic considerations in renewable energy finance.
The economics of privacy and data security in financial transactions.
The role of international economic organizations in financial regulation.
Economic effects of technological innovation on traditional industries.
The impact of economic sanctions on international relations and finance.
The role of consumer spending in economic recovery phases.
Economic policies for addressing wealth gaps.
The economic impact of climate change on financial sectors.
The role of economic research in crafting sustainable development goals.
The economics of health and its impact on national economies.
Global economic trends and their implications for financial forecasting.
The relationship between educational economics and workforce development.

10. Financial Management Thesis Topics

The strategic role of financial management in corporate sustainability.
Impact of global financial regulations on corporate financial management.
Financial management techniques for optimizing supply chain operations.
The role of financial management in crisis recovery and resilience.
Emerging technologies in financial management systems.
The impact of corporate social responsibility on financial management strategies.
Financial planning for long-term business growth in volatile markets.
The influence of global economic conditions on financial management practices.
Financial management challenges in the nonprofit sector.
The role of financial management in mergers and acquisitions.
The impact of digital currencies on corporate financial management.
Financial risk management strategies in an era of global uncertainty.
The role of financial management in enhancing operational efficiency.
Financial management best practices in the tech industry.
The impact of consumer behavior trends on financial management.
Financial management in the healthcare sector: Challenges and strategies.
The influence of artificial intelligence on financial decision-making processes.
Financial management strategies for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The role of financial management in international expansion.
Ethical considerations in financial management practices.
Financial management in the energy sector: challenges and innovations.
Financial strategies for managing environmental risks.
The role of financial management in startup success and sustainability.
The impact of financial transparency on corporate governance.
Financial management and investor relations: integrating strategic communication.
The role of financial management in educational institutions.
Managing financial instability in emerging markets.
Financial management practices in the gig economy.
The role of financial managers in driving business model innovations.
Financial management tools for effective capital allocation.

11. Fintech Thesis Topics

The impact of blockchain on global payment systems.
Regulation challenges for fintech innovations: A cross-country analysis.
The role of fintech in democratizing access to financial services.
Machine learning and artificial intelligence in predictive financial modeling.
The evolution of peer-to-peer lending platforms and their impact on traditional banking.
Cryptocurrency adoption: consumer behavior and market dynamics.
The future of robo-advisors in personal finance management.
The impact of mobile banking on financial inclusion in developing countries.
Fintech solutions for microfinance: scalability and sustainability issues.
Data privacy and security challenges in fintech applications.
The role of fintech in enhancing cybersecurity in financial transactions.
The impact of fintech on traditional banking employment.
Regulatory technology (RegTech) for compliance management: trends and challenges.
Fintech and its role in combating financial crime and money laundering.
The influence of fintech on the insurance industry: insurtech innovations.
Fintech investments: market trends and future prospects.
The role of big data analytics in fintech.
Digital wallets and the future of consumer spending behavior.
Impact of fintech on wealth management and investment strategies.
Challenges and opportunities of implementing distributed ledger technology in financial services.
Consumer trust and fintech: building relationships in a digital age.
The evolution of payment gateways: fintech at the forefront.
Fintech’s impact on cross-border payments and remittances.
The role of fintech in the development of smart contracts.
The influence of fintech on financial market transparency.
Fintech as a driver for financial sector innovation in emerging markets.
The impact of artificial intelligence on risk assessment in fintech.
Fintech and financial stability: an analysis of systemic risks.
The role of fintech in streamlining government and public sector finance.
Ethical considerations in fintech: balancing innovation with consumer protection.

12. Insurance Thesis Topics

The future of insurance in the age of climate change.
The impact of artificial intelligence on underwriting and risk management.
Cyber risk insurance: emerging challenges and opportunities.
The role of insurance in managing public health crises.
Innovations in health insurance: technology-driven approaches to coverage.
The evolution of automotive insurance in the era of autonomous vehicles.
Insurance fraud detection using big data analytics.
Regulatory challenges in the global insurance market.
The influence of behavioral economics on insurance product design.
The role of reinsurance in stabilizing insurance markets.
Insurance and financial inclusion: strategies for reaching underserved communities.
The impact of technological advancements on insurance pricing models.
The role of insurance in disaster risk reduction and management.
Customer data management in the insurance industry: privacy versus personalization.
The future of life insurance: adapting to demographic shifts.
The integration of IoT devices in home insurance policies.
Blockchain applications in the insurance industry.
The impact of social media on insurance marketing and customer engagement.
Insurance as a tool for sustainable business practices.
The role of insurance companies in promoting corporate social responsibility.
The challenges of health insurance in a post-pandemic world.
Emerging risks and insurance: addressing the needs of the gig economy.
The role of insurance in mitigating financial risks associated with sports and entertainment.
Ethical challenges in insurance: discrimination in risk assessment.
The impact of global political instability on the insurance sector.
Insurance products tailored for the elderly: opportunities and challenges.
The role of insurance in fostering innovation in the construction industry.
Insurance and climate resilience: protecting vulnerable communities.
The evolving landscape of travel insurance amid global uncertainties.
The role of insurance in the transition to renewable energy sources.

13. International Finance Thesis Topics

The impact of currency fluctuations on international trade.
Strategies for managing foreign exchange risk in multinational corporations.
The effects of global economic sanctions on financial markets.
The role of international financial institutions in economic development.
Cross-border mergers and acquisitions: challenges and opportunities.
The influence of geopolitical tensions on global financial stability.
International tax planning and its implications for global investment.
The future of international financial regulation in a post-Brexit Europe.
The impact of emerging markets on global finance.
Foreign direct investment trends and their economic impacts.
The role of sovereign wealth funds in international finance.
The challenges of implementing international accounting standards.
The impact of international remittances on developing economies.
The role of digital currencies in reshaping international finance.
The effects of protectionist trade policies on global finance.
International financial market trends and their implications for investors.
The role of expatriate remittances in national economic stability.
The impact of international trade agreements on financial services.
Global risk management strategies in the finance sector.
The role of green finance in promoting sustainable development.
The impact of international environmental policies on financial strategies.
The future of global banking in the context of rising nationalism.
The role of international finance in disaster recovery and resilience.
The influence of international finance on poverty reduction strategies.
Strategies for financing international healthcare initiatives.
The evolving role of Islamic finance in the global market.
The impact of fintech on international banking and finance.
Challenges in financing international infrastructure projects.
The role of international finance in climate change mitigation.
Ethical considerations in international finance: fostering global financial integrity.

14. Investment Thesis Topics

The role of ESG criteria in investment decision-making.
The impact of technological innovation on investment strategies.
Market reaction to unexpected global events and its effect on investment portfolios.
Behavioral biases in investment: a study of market anomalies.
The future of real estate investment in a fluctuating economic landscape.
The role of quantitative analysis in portfolio management.
The impact of demographic changes on investment trends.
Strategies for sustainable and responsible investing.
The influence of regulatory changes on investment strategies.
The role of artificial intelligence in enhancing investment decisions.
Cryptocurrency investment: risks and opportunities.
The impact of global trade tensions on investment strategies.
Investment strategies for low interest rate environments.
The role of crowdfunding in the investment landscape.
The impact of social media on investor sentiment and stock prices.
The effectiveness of passive versus active investment strategies.
The role of venture capital in driving technological innovation.
The future of bond markets in a changing economic context.
The role of international investments in diversifying portfolios.
Impact of inflation expectations on investment decisions.
The evolving landscape of commodity investments.
Investment opportunities in emerging markets.
The impact of fiscal policy changes on investment strategies.
The role of hedge funds in the current financial market.
The influence of central bank policies on investment strategies.
The role of pension funds in the global investment market.
Ethical investing: balancing profit and principles.
The future of investments in renewable energy.
The impact of political stability on foreign investments.
The role of technology in asset management and valuation.

15. Management Accounting Thesis Topics

The role of management accounting in strategic decision-making.
Cost management strategies in the era of global supply chain disruptions.
The impact of digital transformation on management accounting practices.
The role of management accounting in environmental sustainability.
Performance measurement and management in diverse organizational settings.
Risk management strategies in management accounting.
The evolving role of management accountants in corporate governance.
The impact of regulatory changes on management accounting.
The role of management accounting in healthcare cost containment.
The influence of management accounting on operational efficiency.
Management accounting practices in nonprofit organizations.
The role of cost analysis in pricing strategies.
The impact of technological advancements on budgeting and forecasting.
The effectiveness of management accounting tools in project management.
The role of management accounting in mergers and acquisitions.
The impact of cultural differences on management accounting systems.
The role of management accounting in enhancing business resilience.
The influence of management accounting on business model innovation.
Management accounting in the digital economy: challenges and opportunities.
Strategic cost management for competitive advantage.
The role of management accounting in supply chain optimization.
The future of management accounting in the context of AI and automation.
The impact of financial technology on management accounting.
The role of management accounting in crisis management and recovery.
Performance metrics and their impact on organizational success.
The role of management accounting in supporting sustainable practices.
The impact of global economic conditions on management accounting.
The role of predictive analytics in management accounting.
The effectiveness of internal controls in management accounting.
The role of management accounting in international business expansion.

16. Personal Finance Thesis Topics

The impact of financial technology on personal savings strategies.
Behavioral insights into personal debt management.
The role of personal finance education in shaping financial literacy.
The influence of economic downturns on personal investment choices.
Retirement planning: trends and strategies in the current economic climate.
The effectiveness of digital tools in personal budgeting and financial planning.
Analyzing the gender gap in personal finance management.
The impact of cultural factors on personal saving and spending habits.
Personal finance challenges for the gig economy workers.
The role of personal finance in achieving long-term financial security.
Cryptocurrency as a personal investment: risks and rewards.
The impact of peer-to-peer lending platforms on personal finance.
The influence of social media on personal financial decisions.
Ethical considerations in personal financial advice.
The evolution of consumer credit markets and its impact on personal finance.
Strategies for managing personal financial risk.
The role of emergency funds in personal financial planning.
The impact of student loans on financial planning for millennials.
Personal finance strategies for different life stages.
The effect of inflation on personal savings and investment strategies.
The future of personal finance in the age of AI and automation.
The role of insurance in personal financial planning.
The impact of tax laws changes on personal finance strategies.
The psychology of spending: understanding consumer behavior.
Personal financial planning for expatriates: strategies and challenges.
The role of estate planning in personal finance.
Impact of healthcare costs on personal financial stability.
The role of financial advisors in the era of self-directed financial planning.
Financial planning for sustainable living: integrating environmental considerations.
The challenges and opportunities in personal wealth building.

17. Public Finance Thesis Topics

The role of public finance in addressing income inequality.
Fiscal policies for sustainable economic growth.
The impact of taxation on small businesses.
Public finance management in times of economic crisis.
The role of government spending in stimulating economic development.
Strategies for managing national debt.
The effectiveness of public welfare programs.
The challenges of healthcare financing in public sectors.
The impact of international aid on public finance.
Public finance strategies for environmental conservation.
The role of public finance in urban development.
Tax evasion and its implications for public finance.
The impact of public finance on education quality and access.
Financing public infrastructure: challenges and solutions.
The role of public finance in disaster management.
The effectiveness of fiscal decentralization.
Public finance reforms and their impact on service delivery.
The challenges of pension financing in the public sector.
The impact of political stability on public financial management.
Public-private partnerships: financial implications and models.
The role of transparency in public finance.
The impact of corruption on public financial management.
Financing renewable energy projects through public funds.
The role of public finance in health care reform.
The effectiveness of government subsidies in promoting economic sectors.
The challenges of financing sustainable transportation systems.
The impact of demographic changes on public finance.
The role of digital technologies in improving public finance management.
The global trends in public finance and their implications for domestic policy.
The impact of climate change on public financial strategies.

18. Quantitative Finance Thesis Topics

The application of machine learning algorithms in predicting stock market trends.
The role of quantitative methods in risk management.
Developing advanced models for credit risk assessment.
The impact of high-frequency trading on market stability.
The use of big data analytics in portfolio management.
Quantitative approaches to asset pricing in volatile markets.
The effectiveness of quantitative strategies in hedge funds.
The role of algorithmic trading in enhancing market efficiency.
Quantitative models for predicting bond market movements.
The impact of quantitative finance on regulatory compliance.
The application of blockchain technology in quantitative finance.
The challenges of quantitative finance in cryptocurrency markets.
The integration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in quantitative analysis.
The role of quantitative finance in private equity valuations.
Developing quantitative approaches for derivatives pricing.
The impact of quantitative finance techniques on financial advising.
Quantitative methods for assessing market liquidity.
The role of sentiment analysis in quantitative finance.
Quantitative trading strategies for commodities markets.
The application of game theory in financial strategy.
Quantitative finance and its role in insurance underwriting.
The impact of geopolitical events on quantitative financial models.
The use of quantitative finance in forecasting economic downturns.
Machine learning models for real estate investment analysis.
Quantitative finance techniques in sports betting markets.
The impact of artificial intelligence on financial market predictions.
Quantitative methods for managing currency exchange risks.
The role of quantitative finance in managing pension fund assets.
The effectiveness of quantitative models in emerging financial markets.
The future of quantitative finance in a globally interconnected economy.

19. Risk Management Thesis Topics

The role of risk management in enhancing corporate resilience.
Cybersecurity risks in financial institutions: management strategies.
The impact of climate change on risk management in insurance.
Risk management techniques in the fintech sector.
The effectiveness of enterprise risk management (ERM) frameworks.
Risk management in global supply chains.
The role of risk management in sustainable business practices.
Financial risks associated with political instability.
The challenges of operational risk management in complex organizations.
Risk management strategies for digital transformation projects.
The impact of regulatory changes on risk management practices.
Risk assessment techniques for investment in volatile markets.
The role of data analytics in risk identification and mitigation.
Risk management considerations in mergers and acquisitions.
The impact of reputation risk on corporate strategy.
Risk management in the healthcare industry.
The challenges of risk management in the energy sector.
The role of risk management in nonprofit organizations.
Implementing risk management in public sector entities.
The future of risk management in the context of AI advancements.
Credit risk management in banking post-global financial crisis.
Risk management strategies for emerging technologies.
The role of psychological factors in risk management decision-making.
Legal risks in international business operations.
The impact of cultural differences on risk management strategies.
Environmental risk management and corporate responsibility.
Risk management techniques for protecting intellectual property.
The role of insurance in comprehensive risk management.
The challenges of liquidity risk management in financial markets.
The future of risk management education and training.

20. Taxation Thesis Topics

The impact of digital economy on global taxation frameworks.
Tax policy as a tool for economic recovery post-pandemic.
The effectiveness of tax incentives in promoting renewable energy investments.
The role of taxation in addressing wealth inequality.
International tax competition and its implications for global economic stability.
The challenges of implementing value-added tax (VAT) in developing countries.
Tax evasion and its impact on national economies.
The role of tax policy in encouraging corporate social responsibility.
The impact of tax reforms on small and medium-sized enterprises.
Comparative analysis of progressive versus flat tax systems.
The effectiveness of digital services taxes in the global economy.
The role of taxation in sustainable development goals.
Taxation strategies for digital currencies and blockchain transactions.
The impact of tax policies on consumer behavior.
The role of taxation in healthcare financing.
Tax compliance challenges in the gig economy.
The implications of tax havens on international relations.
The role of automated systems in improving tax collection efficiency.
Taxation and its impact on foreign direct investment flows.
The future of estate taxes and their role in wealth distribution.
Taxation of e-commerce transactions.
The impact of international tax treaties on cross-border investments.
The role of taxation in the informal economy.
The challenges of carbon taxes in combating climate change.
The role of tax audits in enhancing fiscal transparency.
The impact of tax policies on retirement planning.
Taxation challenges in the pharmaceutical industry.
The role of taxation in funding public education.
The impact of taxation on agricultural development.
The future of consumption taxes in an increasingly digital world.

This comprehensive list of accounting and finance thesis topics has been curated to reflect the latest challenges and emerging trends within the field. Whether you are exploring traditional areas like taxation and corporate finance or delving into the evolving realms of fintech and international finance, these topics are designed to provide a robust foundation for your thesis research. Each category is intended to spark innovative thinking and encourage a deep exploration of issues that are pivotal to the current and future landscape of accounting and finance. By selecting a topic from this extensive collection, students can ensure their research is relevant, timely, and contributes meaningfully to their academic and professional growth in the field of accounting and finance.

The Range of Accounting and Finance Thesis Topics

Accounting and finance stand as critical pillars in the modern economic and corporate world, guiding everything from daily business operations to global financial strategies. The study of these disciplines is not just about learning to balance books or manage corporate assets; it’s about understanding the forces that drive economic activities and shape financial landscapes. Research in accounting and finance is paramount as it provides the empirical evidence needed to develop robust financial models, innovative management practices, and effective regulatory policies. The relevance of accounting and finance thesis topics is thus foundational to nurturing informed, adept professionals capable of navigating the complexities of financial markets and addressing the challenges of economic flux.

Current Issues in Accounting and Finance

Globalization and Regulatory Complexity : As businesses operate across borders, the complexity of regulatory compliance increases. Researchers are tasked with exploring the implications of global regulatory frameworks and their synchronization, or lack thereof, which affects multinational corporations and global financial stability.
Technological Disruptions : The rapid integration of technologies such as blockchain, AI, and machine learning in financial operations presents both opportunities and challenges. Studies focus on their impacts on financial privacy, security, and new types of financial crime, as well as their potential to improve efficiency and transparency.
Ethical and Sustainability Challenges : With rising concerns over corporate responsibility and sustainable development, research is increasingly focusing on how financial practices can be aligned with ethical standards and sustainability goals. This includes studies on green financing, ethical investing, and the financial implications of corporate sustainability initiatives.

Recent Trends in Accounting and Finance

Automation and Data Analytics : The adoption of advanced data analytics and automation tools is transforming traditional accounting tasks. Research topics explore the impact of these technologies on workflow efficiencies, data accuracy, and strategic decision-making within financial departments.
Sustainable Finance : As the demand for environmentally and socially responsible investment options grows, there is an increasing focus on how financial markets can support ESG principles. Researchers examine the integration of sustainability into financial analysis and decision-making processes.
Fintech Innovations : The emergence of fintech and its components like mobile payments, peer-to-peer lending, and cryptocurrencies are reshaping the financial services industry. Theses may focus on the regulatory challenges, market dynamics, and consumer behavior influenced by these innovations.

Future Directions in Accounting and Finance

Digital Transformation : Future research will likely delve deeper into the consequences and potentials of continued digital transformation in finance, such as the widespread adoption of internet of things (IoT) technologies and further advancements in AI for automated trading and personal finance management.
Predictive Finance and AI : With AI’s increasing capability to predict financial outcomes, future topics could include the development of AI-driven models for credit scoring, risk management, and investment strategies, emphasizing their accuracy, ethical considerations, and regulatory needs.
Sustainability and Finance : An emerging research frontier is the intersection of finance with global sustainability challenges. Potential topics include the financing of climate change initiatives, the role of financial institutions in promoting sustainable practices, and the creation of innovative financial products that support sustainable economic growth.

The breadth of accounting and finance thesis topics is indicative of the field’s extensive scope and its significant impact on societal and economic frameworks. Continued research is essential for advancing theoretical foundations and developing practical applications that address both current challenges and future opportunities. This ongoing academic inquiry is crucial for fostering a financial landscape that is not only robust and dynamic but also ethical and sustainable, ensuring that the field of accounting and finance remains at the forefront of economic innovation and societal advancement.

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Spotlight on 130+ Accounting Research Topics: Bridging Theory and Practice

Post author By admin
August 12, 2023

Explore diverse Accounting Research Topics, from AI’s influence to sustainability and blockchain’s impact. Stay updated with the latest trends and insights

Hello, fellow explorers of financial knowledge! Ready to dive into the intriguing world of Accounting Research Topics? Whether you’re a numbers aficionado or just curious about finance, you’re in for a treat.

Uncover the mysteries behind financial statements, explore auditing intricacies, and venture into evolving taxation strategies.

Imagine numbers as gateways to unraveling business secrets and economic insights. We’re not just skimming the surface; we’re diving deep into the heart of accounting research, revealing captivating stories beneath jargon and formulas.

Ever wondered how auditors ensure financial compliance? How technology transforms accounting practices? Or the ethical compass guiding finance?

No stone unturned, all questions answered. But that’s not all. We’ll delve into intersections of accounting with sustainability, blockchain, and the art of valuing businesses.

Join us, whether you’re a student, professional, or someone curious about finance. Together, we’ll explore accounting research topics, shedding light on concepts, trends, and insights that make you part of the financial conversations shaping our world.

Grab your virtual passport, and let’s journey into the fascinating universe of Accounting Research Topics!

Table of Contents

What are Accounting Research Topics?

Accounting research topics refer to specific subjects or areas within the field of accounting that scholars, researchers, and students focus on for in-depth investigation, analysis, and exploration. These topics aim to contribute new knowledge, insights, and understanding to the accounting discipline.

Accounting research topics can cover a wide range of areas, including financial reporting, auditing, taxation, management accounting, ethics, technology, and more.

Researchers in accounting delve into these topics to address questions, challenges, and gaps in knowledge within the accounting profession and its various subfields.

The goal of accounting research is to advance the understanding of accounting principles, practices, regulations, and their impact on businesses, economies, and society as a whole.

Accounting Research Topics

Check out some of the most interesting accounting research topics to work on.

Financial Reporting and Analysis

Comparative Analysis of Financial Statements.
Earnings Management and Manipulation.
Financial Ratios and Performance Evaluation.
Predictive Analytics in Financial Forecasting.
The Impact of Fair Value Accounting on Financial Statements.
Revenue Recognition Practices Across Industries.
Financial Statement Fraud Detection Techniques.
Volatility in Earnings and Stock Prices.
Implications of IFRS Adoption on Financial Reporting.
Market Reaction to Earnings Announcements.

Auditing and Assurance

Auditor Independence and Ethics.
Audit Quality and Auditor Rotation.
Fraud Detection and Forensic Accounting.
Internal Control Evaluation and Audit Risk.
The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Auditing.
Audit Committee Effectiveness and Financial Reporting.
Materiality and Audit Planning.
Auditor Liability and Legal Implications.
Auditor Communication and Financial Statement Users.
Comparative Study of Audit Regulations in Different Countries.

Taxation and Tax Planning

Tax Avoidance vs. Tax Evasion.
Transfer Pricing and International Taxation.
Taxation of Digital Transactions.
Tax Incentives and Economic Development.
Environmental Taxation and Sustainability.
Tax Implications of Mergers and Acquisitions.
Tax Planning Strategies for High-Net-Worth Individuals.
Tax Policy and Income Inequality.
Tax Compliance Behavior of Small Businesses.
The Role of Tax Advisers in Tax Planning.

Corporate Governance and Ethics

Board Composition and Financial Reporting Quality.
Executive Compensation and Corporate Performance.
Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting.
Whistleblowing and Ethical Decision-Making.
The Impact of Corporate Governance on Financial Fraud.
Shareholder Activism and Corporate Governance.
Dual-Class Share Structures and Corporate Governance.
Ethical Leadership and Organizational Culture.
Corporate Governance Reforms and Regulatory Changes.
Diversity and Gender Representation in Corporate Boards.

Management Accounting and Costing

Activity-Based Costing and Resource Allocation.
Budgeting and Variance Analysis.
Just-in-Time Inventory Management.
Target Costing and Pricing Strategies.
Performance Measurement in Nonprofit Organizations.
Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis and Break-Even Point.
Costing Methods in Service Industries.
Lean Accounting and Waste Reduction.
Transfer Pricing in Multinational Corporations.
Balanced Scorecard and Performance Measurement.

International Accounting and Reporting

Convergence of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).
Cross-Cultural Differences in Financial Reporting.
Accounting for Foreign Exchange Transactions.
Harmonization of Accounting Standards in Global Markets.
Implications of Brexit on Financial Reporting in the EU.
International Transfer Pricing Regulations.
Cultural Influence on Financial Disclosure Practices.
Comparative Analysis of Accounting Regulations in Different Countries.
Challenges of Adopting IFRS in Developing Economies.
Multinational Corporations’ Reporting of Tax Liabilities.

Emerging Technologies and Innovations

Blockchain Technology in Accounting and Auditing.
Cloud-Based Accounting Systems and Data Security.
Robotic Process Automation in Financial Reporting.
Artificial Intelligence in Fraud Detection.
Big Data Analytics for Decision-Making.
Cybersecurity and Data Privacy in Accounting.
Digital Currencies and Cryptocurrency Accounting.
Role of Chatbots in Financial Customer Service.
Automation of Tax Compliance and Reporting.
Machine Learning in Credit Risk Assessment.

Sustainability and Environmental Accounting

Carbon Accounting and Emissions Reporting.
Social and Environmental Performance Reporting.
Green Financing and Sustainability Reporting.
Integrated Reporting and Triple Bottom Line.
The Role of Accounting in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals.
Environmental Disclosures and Investor Decisions.
Sustainability Performance Metrics and Benchmarks.
Valuation of Natural Resources in Financial Statements.
Sustainability Assurance and External Auditing.
Impact of Climate Change on Corporate Financial Reporting.

Behavioral Aspects in Accounting

Behavioral Biases in Financial Decision-Making.
Role of Cognitive Psychology in Auditing.
Ethical Behavior and Moral Dilemmas in Accounting.
Psychological Factors Affecting Investor Behavior.
Nudging Techniques for Promoting Financial Literacy.
Overconfidence and its Effects on Financial Decision-Makers.
Herd Behavior in Financial Markets.
The Influence of Framing on Investment Choices.
Prospect Theory and Risk Perception in Accounting.
Biases in Financial Reporting and Disclosure.

Financial Markets and Investments

Portfolio Management and Risk Diversification.
Capital Market Efficiency and Information Asymmetry.
Behavioral Finance and Investor Sentiment.
Market Microstructure and High-Frequency Trading.
Financial Derivatives and Hedging Strategies.
Impact of Market Regulations on Investor Behavior.
Volatility Spillover Across Global Financial Markets.
Investment Strategies in Bull and Bear Markets.
Cryptocurrency Investment and Volatility.
Algorithmic Trading and Market Liquidity

Advanced Accounting Research Topics

Have a close look at some of the advanced accounting research topics in details.

The Role of Sustainability Accounting in Corporate Decision-Making

Investigate how integrating environmental and social factors into financial reporting influences strategic decisions and performance metrics in businesses.

Auditor Judgment and Decision-Making in Complex Financial Environments

Explore how auditors make judgments and decisions when faced with intricate financial transactions and complex reporting issues.

Financial Reporting Quality and Market Valuation

Analyze the relationship between the quality of financial reporting and the market valuation of firms, considering factors like transparency, accuracy, and consistency.

Tax Avoidance Strategies of Multinational Corporations

Examine the methods multinational corporations employ to minimize their tax liabilities across different jurisdictions and the implications for governments and stakeholders.

Corporate Governance and Earnings Management

Investigate the impact of different corporate governance mechanisms on earnings management practices, including the role of board structures, executive compensation, and ownership concentration.

Behavioral Biases in Investment Decision-Making

Study how cognitive biases and behavioral factors influence investment decisions made by individuals and institutional investors in financial markets.

Digital Transformation and Accounting Information Systems

Analyze the integration of emerging technologies like AI, blockchain, and cloud computing in accounting information systems and their effects on efficiency, accuracy, and security.

Financial Distress Prediction Models for Firms

Develop and validate predictive models that use financial and non-financial indicators to anticipate the likelihood of a company facing financial distress or bankruptcy.

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Reporting Frameworks

Evaluate the effectiveness and comparability of various ESG reporting frameworks in promoting sustainable business practices and attracting socially responsible investments.

Regulatory Changes in the Post-Global Financial Crisis Era

Investigate the impact of post-financial crisis regulations (e.g., Dodd-Frank Act, Basel III) on financial institutions’ risk management practices, capital requirements, and reporting obligations.

Impact of IFRS Adoption on Financial Reporting Quality

Assess how the transition from local GAAP to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) influences the quality and comparability of financial statements across countries.

Blockchain Technology in Auditing and Assurance

Examine the potential of blockchain to enhance the efficiency, transparency, and reliability of auditing processes, including real-time transaction verification and fraud detection.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Disclosures and Stakeholder Perception

Analyze the relationship between a firm’s CSR disclosures and stakeholders’ perceptions of the company’s ethical practices, reputation, and long-term value.

Mergers and Acquisitions Accounting Challenges

Investigate the complexities of accounting for business combinations, including issues related to goodwill impairment, fair value measurement, and post-merger integration.

Behavioral Ethics in Accounting Professionals

Study how psychological biases and ethical reasoning impact the ethical decision-making of accounting professionals, examining factors that influence ethical behavior.

These topics delve into advanced areas of accounting research that can contribute valuable insights to the field and your postgraduate studies.

Remember to choose a topic that aligns with your interests, expertise, and the resources available for your research.

What are current research topics in accounting?

Here are some current research topics in accounting

Smart Computers Changing Accounting

Imagine computers that think like humans! People are studying how super-smart computers, known as Artificial Intelligence (AI), are transforming accounting tasks.

They’re finding ways AI can make accounting quicker and more accurate, like spotting errors and helping with money reports.

Numbers for a Better Earth

Did you know accounting can help save the planet? Researchers are figuring out how to use numbers to track how well companies take care of nature, society, and fairness.

They’re making new rules and plans so companies can show off how they’re reducing pollution, treating everyone fairly, and being good citizens.

Super Safe Money Records

Have you heard about the magical ledger called Blockchain? It’s like a special book that everyone can see but can’t change.

People are studying how this cool thing can make accounting super secure. It helps keep track of money, things people own, and makes sure money stories are true.

Numbers that Tell Stories

Nowadays, businesses make tons of information. Researchers are finding ways to make sense of this big data to help accounting be even better.

They’re making new tricks to understand money stories, predict risks, and decide what’s best for companies. But, they’re also thinking about being fair and good while using these tricks.

School for Future Accountants

How can we teach future number wizards the right skills? The accounting world is changing fast, and experts are thinking about what students should learn.

They want to teach not just numbers, but also thinking smart, solving problems, and using data to make great choices.

Remember, these are just a few exciting things happening in accounting research. As accounting grows, there will be even more cool things to explore!

What are good topics for a project in accounting?

Here are some good topics for a project in accounting

Smart Computers and Money

Ever wondered how smart computers are changing how we deal with money? You can dive into the world of AI and see how it’s making accounting faster and less mistake-prone. Think of it like a computer buddy that helps accountants do their job even better!

Numbers for a Greener World

Want to explore how numbers can help our planet? Check out how businesses are using accounting to be more eco-friendly.

You’ll find out how they measure stuff like pollution and fairness, and how this helps them be better citizens of the Earth.

Magic Books for Money

Imagine a magical book that makes sure no one can trick it. That’s what blockchain is like! You can dig into how this cool tech is shaking up the way we keep track of money and stuff people own. It’s like a super-secure money diary for everyone to see.

Spying Secrets in Numbers

Big data, big secrets! Find out how big companies are using special tricks to understand their huge piles of info.

You’ll learn how they use data to tell financial stories, predict problems, and make smart choices. But remember, using these tricks the right way is super important!

School for Future Money Wizards

Want to know how future accountants will learn their tricks? The accounting world is changing faster than a speeding bullet.

You can explore what skills accounting students need to be super successful, like solving problems, thinking smart, and using data like a superhero.

These are just a few exciting project ideas for your accounting assignment. Pick the one that tickles your curiosity the most, and get ready to dive into the world of numbers and secrets!

How to select Best Accounting Research Topics?

Selecting the best accounting research topic is crucial for a successful and meaningful study. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you choose the ideal topic:

Define Your Interests

Start by identifying areas of accounting that genuinely interest you. Consider whether you’re drawn to financial reporting, auditing, taxation, sustainability, technology, or any other subfield. A topic that aligns with your passion will keep you motivated throughout your research.

Research Current Trends

Stay updated on the latest trends and emerging issues in the accounting field. Browse academic journals, news articles, and industry reports to identify topics that are relevant, timely, and in demand.

Assess Available Resources

Evaluate the resources available for your research. Do you have access to relevant data, literature, or experts in the chosen topic? Adequate resources will ensure you can conduct thorough research and analysis.

Consider Your Audience

Think about your target audience. Are you writing for academics, professionals, policymakers, or the general public? Tailor your topic to address the interests and needs of your intended audience.

Narrow Down Your Focus

Accounting is a vast field, so narrow down your focus. For instance, if you’re interested in financial reporting, you could narrow it down to a specific aspect like revenue recognition or fair value measurement.

Identify Research Gaps

Look for gaps in existing literature. Is there a question that hasn’t been adequately answered or an area that lacks comprehensive research? Addressing research gaps adds value to your study.

Consider Practical Relevance

Consider the practical implications of your chosen topic. How does it relate to real-world accounting practices, challenges, or opportunities? A topic with practical relevance is more likely to have an impact.

Consult with Advisors or Experts

Discuss your ideas with mentors, advisors, or experts in the field. They can offer valuable insights, help you refine your topic, and provide guidance on feasibility.

Evaluate Feasibility

Assess the feasibility of your chosen topic. Do you have the skills, time, and resources to carry out the research effectively? Avoid topics that are too ambitious or beyond your capabilities.

Personal Significance

Consider the personal significance of the topic. Does it resonate with your long-term goals, career aspirations, or values? A topic that holds personal meaning is likely to drive your dedication.

Test Your Hypothesis

If you have a specific research question or hypothesis in mind, test it by conducting preliminary research. This will help you gauge the availability of data and whether your hypothesis is worth investigating.

Flexibility for Adaptation

Choose a topic that allows some flexibility for adaptation. As you delve deeper into research, you might uncover new angles or perspectives that could enhance your study.

Balance Challenge and Interest

Strive for a balance between a topic that challenges you intellectually and one that keeps you engaged due to your interest. An overly complex topic might lead to frustration, while a too-easy topic might not be fulfilling.

Remember that selecting a research topic is a significant decision, and it’s perfectly normal to spend time exploring different possibilities before settling on the best fit.

Take your time, conduct thorough research, and choose a topic that you’re genuinely excited to explore

Exploring the multifaceted realm of accounting research topics presents a treasure trove of insights, equipping individuals, professionals, and entities with the wisdom to make astute financial choices.

From deciphering intricate financial statements to embracing the strides of technological progress, the landscape of accounting research remains a cornerstone of shaping the finance landscape of tomorrow.

As you embark on this journey of exploration, bear in mind that keeping abreast of the freshest trends and revelations is pivotal in this perpetually evolving domain.

If you want to suggest us any other accounting research topics then comment down below.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some key areas of accounting research.

Accounting research spans various areas, including financial statement analysis, auditing, taxation, sustainability accounting, and more. Each area contributes to enhancing financial transparency and decision-making.

How Does Technology Influence Accounting Research?

Technology has revolutionized accounting research by enabling efficient data collection, analysis, and reporting. Advanced tools like data analytics and AI enhance accuracy and provide deeper insights.

Why Is Ethical Consideration Important in Accounting Research?

Ethical considerations ensure the integrity of research findings and the accounting profession as a whole. Upholding ethical standards is vital to maintain credibility and trust.

What Is the Significance of International Accounting Standards?

International accounting standards, such as IFRS and GAAP, provide a common framework for financial reporting across borders. They enhance comparability and transparency in global financial markets.

How Does Sustainability Accounting Drive Business Decision-making?

Sustainability accounting integrates ESG factors into financial reporting, influencing business decisions by highlighting the environmental and social impacts of choices.

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Exploring 120+ Management Accounting Dissertation Topics

Team Desklib

Published: 2022-09-14

Since management accounting is linked to the managerial elements of accounting and finance in organizational structures, it differs from dissertation subjects in financial accounting . Undergraduate management accounting study topics also cover several facets of managerial structures that are frequently used in the accounting industry. We can successfully help you in this regard even if there may be uncertainty among students when it comes to financial management dissertation topics.

Lists of Management Accounting Dissertation Topics

A descriptive approach to identifying the gaps between research and practice in management accounting.
A survey of the literature on the contribution of environmental management accounting to the sustainability of the world's environment.
Finding the gaps between management accounting and corporate political strategy.
Investigating the functions of various teaching philosophies in management accounting education.
Investigating how stakeholders' effects affect management accounting practices
Challenges and opportunities for management accounting research.
Asian management accounting: an introduction to the fundamentals.
Relationship between UK business performance and management accounting data.
Pay attention to current trends and advancements in management accounting in China.
Finding the essential core competencies for international management accounting (IFM).
CIMS environment and financial management: emphasizing the connection.
Comparing small and medium businesses in terms of budgeting and management accounting .
Financial management problems and compulsive shopping: options for solutions.
A descriptive analysis of financial management procedures in small versus medium-sized businesses.
Comparing intra-firm and inter-firm domains in management accounting research.
Corporate sustainability in action: a management accounting viewpoint.
How is expertise developed in management accounting and the medical profession?
A comprehensive analysis of investigating the social elements of management accounting.
An overview of the literature from the last ten years on strategic management accounting
A descriptive approach to integrated information systems in the context of management accounting.
Understanding the fundamentals of the field of management accounting in times of crisis.
Financial management difficulties in social work departments: challenges and opportunities accessible.
Management accounting careers: identifying the driving forces at play.
Focus on the effects of errors and biases in management accounting systems.
Integrated waste management decisions and the role of management accounting processes.
Focusing on embedded agency, management accounting functions as a political resource.
A descriptive technique for investigating the factor of identity conflict in the management accounting profession.
A comprehensive study to examine the connection between management accounting systems and data-driven decision-making.
A review of the literature is conducted to determine the management accounting controls in the biotech sector.
Standardized management accounting: difficulties and necessary measures.
A comparison of UK and US management accounting information systems and NGO performance.
Finding the right methods for management accounting and measuring organizational performance.
Focusing on the differences between environmental cost accounting and environmental management accounting.
Examining how IT has affected the field of management accounting.

Lists of Finance Accounting Topics

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Covid19 Global Accounting Considerations as a result of the Covid19 Pandemic

Research on the effect of Covid19 on the International Accounting Standard Board
Work as an auditor with clients and outside parties
The relationship between discretionary accruals and earnings management
Corporate governance and disclosure
Returns anticipated in accounting and finance
Impact of digital money on accounting and finance
Analysis of the cryptocurrency market and future predictions
The severity of interest rates in accounting and finance
Accounting ethics dilemmas
Best accounting practices' historical prospects
Risks in accounting system design and analysis
Ways to create and enhance accounting systems
Perspectives on managing earnings
Tax reduction strategies that work for organizations
Managing debt
Financial market influences on management accounting
Methods for avoiding financial fraud
Details of the Goldman Sachs securities fraud lawsuit that are crucial
Fundamental abilities for forensic accounting
Forensic accountants' function
Meaning of accounting theories for business
Issues with Normative Theories of Accounting
Influences of Organizations on Accounting Theory
Implementing Theoretical Ideas in Practical Accounting: Issues
Collusion in Auditing
Organizational Earnings Management
External Factors' Effects on Organizational Cash Flow
Internetbased Accounting
Offshore Accounting

Lists of Auditing Dissertation Topics

Analyze the auditor risk from several angles
Examine financial reporting that is false
The state of the art equipment utilized in auditing
Outsourcing, acquisitions, and contract audits
Data security and compliance with the general data protection legislation
Budgeting and the budgetary control system are instruments used by companies to make decisions.
Relevance of accounting information in boosting telecom earnings
Financial corporate groups and their effects on management and tax preparation
Effect of liquidity management on the effectiveness of manufacturing firms
Existing weaknesses in the independence and credibility of financial reporting among auditors
Impact of internal control systems on income generation
Financial reports' quality is impacted by internal audits
External variables and how they affect the cash flow of the firm
What imprints do Audit committees and boards have on Accounting system?
Estimates used in auditing and fair value measures
Software for accounting's relevance
Risks in accounting system analysis and design
Modern updates to accounting software
The best accounting prospects in history
Accounting dilemmas and ethical issues
The best techniques to prevent financial fraud
Difficulties in applying theoretical concepts to realworld accounting
Management of institution debt

Lists of Accounting Dissertation Topics

Compare how accounting and banking are related
What moral justification exists for tax evasion?
How important is a thorough business audit?
Should nations reevaluate their taxation methods?
What role does management accounting play?
Is the corporate governance process dependent on financial reporting and auditing?
What are the difficulties and problems in measuring environmental accounting?
The impact of accounting data on a company's capital costs
Accounting preservation and the distribution of institutional ownership
How improper accounting practices impact a firm
Is it wise for a small firm to take on a significant risk?
Why you should use a professional accountant to manage your finances
Does gender matter in accounting?
The part money, stocks, and other assets play in the development of a financial stock market
How analysis can prevent revolving debt
A mechanism for accounting information's benefits
Why independent contractors should hire accountants
Low Female to Male ratio working in Accounting
Debt contracts and accounting conservatism in financial entities
Does the accounting department's culture have an impact on the organization?
Implications for debt management now and in the future
How do accounting firms manage and arrange business payroll needs?
What advantages do business accounting and technology offer?
Changes in cash flow's impact on accounting
Technology's place in accounting
How audit panels can examine?

E-Accounting Dissertation Topics

Modern accounting's contribution to the growth of emerging economies' economies
Conservatism in accounting and institutional ownership composition
Debt contracts, financial institutions, and accounting conservatism
Aspects of international accounting
Accounting information's effects on a firm's cost of capital
Measurement of environmental accounting: Problems, Obstacles, and Prospects
Auditing and financial reporting's relevance to corporate governance
Corporate governance auditing technique is used in bank audits under COBIT.
Comparing and contrasting the doubleentry and singleentry systems
Putting Capital and Revenue Expenditure simultaneously
Important elements for comprehending ratio analysis
Banking Relationship and its Development and Execution
Internet banking's role in society.
A close report on the progress of digital technology in the financial sector in Europe and the UK.
Lowering tax obligations through accounting procedures. Just how moral is that?
Transfer pricing and tax evasion; Effective methods for educating university accounting students about ethics.
Ethics advice: Is there sufficient backing?
Audit risk: rationality rhetoric
An insight into ethics and the banking industry is provided in Banking on Ethics.
The impact of auditor liability on UK organizations and the accounting profession.
Does taking into account brand matter?
A discussion on corporate social responsibility that engages contradiction.
An investigation on the connections between accounting and ethics in the UK.
The UK public sector and sustainability reporting.
Describe the fundamentals of investing in financial markets.
Describe how long in advance the CA should plan.
Compare how accounting and banking are related.
How improper accounting practices impact a firm?

One of the most important disciplines for management students is accounting. The fundamentals of accounting will be introduced to you early on. However, some students decide to study this topic in-depth as part of their further education. An important kind of endeavor is a dissertation. To create a strong dissertation, you must consider a variety of factors. Similar to this, researching all aspects of the issue is necessary for an accounting dissertation. Not just computations and profit and loss statements are involved in the topic.

Top 10 Business Management Dissertation Topics
100+ Business Essay Topics and Ideas for College Students
200+ Best Engineering Research Paper Topics in 2022
List of Top 240 Physics Research Topics in 2022

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Accounting →

23 Apr 2024
In Practice

Getting to Net Zero: The Climate Standards and Ecosystem the World Needs Now

What can companies and regulators do as climate predictions grow grimmer? They should measure impact, strengthen environmental institutions, and look to cities to lead, say Robert Kaplan, Shirley Lu, and Rosabeth Moss Kanter.

17 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

Are Companies Getting Away with 'Cheap Talk' on Climate Goals?

Many companies set emissions targets with great fanfare—and never meet them, says research by Shirley Lu and colleagues. But what if investors held businesses accountable for achieving their climate plans?

23 Jun 2023

This Company Lets Employees Take Charge—Even with Life and Death Decisions

Dutch home health care organization Buurtzorg avoids middle management positions and instead empowers its nurses to care for patients as they see fit. Tatiana Sandino and Ethan Bernstein explore how removing organizational layers and allowing employees to make decisions can boost performance.

07 Feb 2023

Supervisor of Sandwiches? More Companies Inflate Titles to Avoid Extra Pay

What does an assistant manager of bingo actually manage? Increasingly, companies are falsely classifying hourly workers as managers to avoid paying an estimated $4 billion a year in overtime, says research by Lauren Cohen.

13 Jan 2023

Are Companies Actually Greener—or Are They All Talk?

More companies than ever use ESG reports to showcase their social consciousness. But are these disclosures meaningful or just marketing? Research by Ethan Rouen delves into the murky world of voluntary reporting and offers advice for investors.

24 Feb 2022

Want to Prevent the Next Hospital Bed Crisis? Enlist the SEC

After two years of COVID-19, many hospitals still haven't figured out how to manage the overwhelming wave of patients that flood ICUs during each surge. Regina Herzlinger and Richard Boxer offer a novel solution. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

28 Feb 2021
Working Paper Summaries

Connecting Expected Stock Returns to Accounting Valuation Multiples: A Primer

This paper introduces a framework to investors and researchers interested in accounting-based valuation. The framework connects expected stock returns to accounting valuation anchors. It can be generalized to evaluate an enterprise's expected returns, and can be adapted to correct for the use of stale accounting data.

Measuring Employment Impact: Applications and Cases

Employment impact-weighted accounting statements quantify the positive and negative effects of firm practices for employees and the broader labor community. This analysis of companies in different sectors shows how these statements are beneficial both at an aggregate and more specific level.

02 Nov 2020

Accounting for Organizational Employment Impact

Impact-weighted accounting methodology standardizes previously disparate measures of impact, in this case the impact of employment. This paper’s methodology and analysis of Intel, Apple, Costco, and Merck shows the feasibility of measuring firm employment impact for insight into firm practices and performance. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

20 Sep 2020

Updating the Balanced Scorecard for Triple Bottom Line Strategies

Society increasingly expects businesses to help solve problems of environmental degradation, inequality, and poverty. This paper explains how the Balanced Scorecard and Strategy Map should be modified to reflect businesses’ expanded role for society.

24 Aug 2020

Performance Hacking: The Contagious Business Practice that Corrodes Corporate Culture, Undermines Core Values, and Damages Great Companies

Performance hacking (or p-hacking for short) means overzealous advocacy of positive interpretations to the point of detachment from actuals. In business as in research there are strong incentives to p-hack. If p-hacking behaviours are not checked, a crash becomes inevitable.

27 Feb 2020
Sharpening Your Skills

How Following Best Business Practices Can Improve Health Care

Why do Harvard Business School scholars spend so much time and money analyzing health care delivery? Open for comment; 0 Comments.

18 Feb 2020

A Preliminary Framework for Product Impact-Weighted Accounts

Although there is growing interest in environmental, social, and governance measurement, the impact of company operations is emphasized over product use. A framework like this one that captures a product’s reach, accessibility, quality, optionality, environmental use emissions, and end of life recyclability allows for a systematic methodology that can be applied to companies across many industries.

16 Oct 2019

Core Earnings? New Data and Evidence

Using a novel dataset of earnings-related disclosures embedded in the 10-Ks, this paper shows how detailed financial statement analysis can produce a measure of core earnings that is more persistent than traditional earnings measures and forecasts future performance. Analysts and market participants are slow to appreciate the importance of transitory earnings.

28 May 2019

Investor Lawsuits Against Auditors Are Falling, and That's Bad News for Capital Markets

It's becoming more difficult for investors to sue corporate auditors. The result? A weakening of trust in US capital markets, says Suraj Srinivasan. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

22 Jan 2019

Corporate Sustainability: A Strategy?

Between 2012 and 2017, companies within most industries adopted an increasingly similar set of sustainability practices. This study examines the interplay between common and strategic practices. This dynamic distinction helps for understanding whether and how sustainability practices can help companies establish a competitive advantage over time.

03 Jan 2019

Financing the Response to Climate Change: The Pricing and Ownership of US Green Bonds

Green bonds are used for environmentally friendly purposes like renewable energy. Complementing previous research, this paper explores the US corporate and municipal green bond and shows that a subset of investors is willing to give up some return to hold green bonds.

03 Dec 2018

How Companies Can Increase Market Rewards for Sustainability Efforts

There is a connection between public sentiment about a company and how the market rewards its corporate social performance, according to George Serafeim. Is your company undervalued? Open for comment; 0 Comments.

19 Nov 2018

Lazy Prices

The most comprehensive information windows that firms provide to the markets—in the form of their mandated annual and quarterly filings—have changed dramatically over time, becoming significantly longer and more complex. When firms break from their routine phrasing and content, this action contains rich information for future firm stock returns and outcomes.

24 Sep 2018

How Cost Accounting is Improving Healthcare in Rural Haiti

The cost of healthcare in rural Haiti was found to vary widely, even inside the same health organization. A pioneering cost accounting system co-developed by Robert Kaplan was called in to determine the cause. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

71 Managerial Accounting Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best managerial accounting topic ideas & essay examples, ✅ good research topics about managerial accounting, 👍 interesting topics to write about managerial accounting.

The Coca-Cola Company’s Managerial Accounting In this regard, the suitability of the adopted cost allocation strategy is influenced by the nature of the products and the consistency of the production process.
Differentiating Financial and Managerial Accounting This is due to the fact that management accounting is for decision making and thus it is used for planning the future of the organization while financial accounting is for the reporting of past operations […]
Technological Advances, Financial Accounting and Managerial Accounting Data Security The three key processes of accounting are record keeping, analysis, and finalizing transactions to present them to the users of accounting and financial reports.
Decision-Making With Managerial Accounting The case of Southwest Airlines demonstrates the application of the budgeting technique in management accounting. Managerial accounting is critical to the provision of quality and quantitative data in the financial and operational performance.
Managerial Accounting Analysis: The Boeing Company and Uber Company The corporation has developed to become one of the leading aircraft producers in the world, alongside Europe’s Airbus. However, in the case of Boeing, its quick ratio is 0.
Choice of Career Between Accounting Manager and Accounting Auditor On the other hand, auditors are tasked with the responsibility of revising the financial accounts prepared by financial accountants to ensure that they represent “a true and fair view of the company’s financial position”.
Financial and Managerial Accounting in Business Administration In 1 Peza Inc, I was introduced to both kinds of accounting financial and management. In addition, being responsible for payrolls in the company enhanced my confidence and deepened my knowledge of financial accounting.
Managerial Accounting in Business Thus, one of the tools that can help achieve the best results is the use of managerial accounting. Moreover, the opportunity to predict the future of the company and how specific actions can financially cripple […]
Managerial Accounting Reporting Requirements This separation is due to the difference in goals and objectives, solved in the interests of external and internal users of information.
Managerial Accounting: Transfer Price Analysis of CMI The main strength of such a method is the fact that it factors in market trends and forces, which incentivizes manufacturers to be more competitive with external suppliers.
Managerial Accounting Tools in the UAE Telecommunications Sector The telecommunications sector of the country has been rapidly developing in the past decades, and currently, it has two major operators: Etisalat and du.
Managerial Accounting Environment-Projecting Profits All the fixed costs are then subtracted from the value of the contribution margin to obtain the value of the net profit or loss of the period.
Managerial Accounting Decisions: Outsourcing Relevant costing is of great assistance to analyze what needs to be outsourced as well as the impact on the company’s revenues.
Managerial Accounting vs. Cost Accounting The aim of this is to control expenditure and thus increase costs. Lean accounting is based on the addition of value along the supply chain.
Managerial Accounting: Lessons From Sam Walton Wal-Mart is also the largest global company as well as the largest private employer in the world with over 2 million employees This laudable success would have, however, not been possible had it not been […]
Sam Walton: Managerial Accounting at Walmart It is possible to say that Sam Walton relied on the principles and concepts of managerial accounting to improve the decision-making and planning in his company. Apart from, that Sam Walton used the principles of […]
COVID-19 Impacts on Managerial Accounting With an increasing number of people infected, the overall world economy cannot remain stable for one day, making it difficult to analyze the data in terms of the epidemiologic situation in both local and outsourced […]
Managerial Accounting Control Orientation and Organizational Outcomes Therefore, organizational executives should apply the proficiencies, capabilities, and understanding of the managerial accounting practices, in addition to being aware of the inconsistent business settings, to tackle the problems of control with the help of […]
Managerial Accounting in Healthcare Services This paper aims to discuss the characteristics of such concepts as variable costs, fixed costs, mixed costs, and job order costing as a part of healthcare services.
Managerial Accounting: Charter School’s Budgeting In the case in point, to calculate the total revenue per student, one will have to add all revenues per student and divide the sum by the number of students in the identified group.
Greenville Hospital System’s Managerial Accounting Therefore, it is evident that the output of the hospital is diverse and calls for the use of a job order costing system.
Qatar National Bank in Managerial Accounting The company also has a raft of other initiatives meant to ensure that it increases its market share and profitability in the global market despite the challenges that it is currently facing.
Managerial Accounting: Variable Costing As a rule, the area of financial accounting is restricted to the creation and further analysis of the company’s financial statements.
Data Reliability in Financial and Managerial Accounting Therefore, financial accounting is highly strict when it concerns the reliability of data used in the reports. In managerial accounting, the demand for information reliability is not as high as it is in financial accounting.
The Gulf Cooperation Council: Managerial Accounting The purpose of the research paper is to assess the prevalence of managerial accounting tools and methods used in the GCC countries in order to determine the preferred approach to accounting in organizations.
Managerial Accounting Tools: The UAE Telecommunications Sector The purpose of the research proposal is to outline a research project that will assess the prevalence of managerial accounting tools and methods used in the UAE telecommunications sector in order to determine the preferred […]
Strategic Cost and Managerial Accounting in UAE The major objective of the ‘just in time’ strategy is to reduce costs that are related to holding inventory. Just in time was to be part of the company’s production system referred to as the […]
Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation Managerial Accounting The flagship project and the construction of the first reactor of the four scheduled reactors began in 2011. In the execution of the role of management accountants, ENEC encounters challenges due to the use of […]
The Domination of Financial Accounting on Managerial Accounting Information The article by Halbouni and Hassan that is titled “The Domination of Financial Accounting on Managerial Accounting Information: An Empirical Investigation in the UAE” is devoted to the topic of the relationship between financial accounting […]
Financial Accounting Versus Managerial Accounting Financial accounting refers to the type of accounting that deals with preparation of financial statements, using accounting techniques, for financial reporting.
Managerial Accounting Mid-Term Practice Solution
Analyzing Managerial Accounting Can Help Managers With Product Costing
How Managerial Accounting Can Help Managers
Managerial Accounting and Financial Accounting: Role of Ethics in Accounting
Applying Personal Managerial Accounting Problems
Budget Variance Analysis in Managerial Accounting
How Marriage Between GAAP & IFRS Can Effect Managerial Accounting
Managerial Accounting: Insurance Australia Group Limited
Financial and Managerial Accounting Comparison
Differences Between Cost Accounting and Managerial Accounting
Managerial Accounting Systems and Organizational Control: A Role Perspective
How Merger Models Incorporate Managerial Accounting
Managerial Accounting and Its Techniques Analysis
Critical Aspects Regarding the Implementation of Managerial Accounting Systems
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Managerial Accounting: Management Formulation and Implementation
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Managerial Accounting: Important Part of an Organization’s Management Information System
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Successful Managerial Accounting Practices, the Antecedents, and Consequences
The Differences Between Financial Accounting and Managerial Accounting
Justification of Need for Managerial Accounting Systems
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The List of 70 Accounting Thesis Topics for Students

Accounting describes the process of recording and consolidating financial transactions in business. It involves analyzing, reporting, and summarizing financial transactions to organizations, businesses, tax agencies, and regulators. This is usually presented via a financial statement, a concise summary of all the financial dealings over a stipulated period. It provides clear documented information of a company’s operations, cash flow, and present financial standing. High accounting standards improve the credibility of financial statements. These financial statements can range from cash flow statements, income statements, loss statements, balance sheets, etc. This constant and customary method of financial reporting enables shareholders and other beneficiaries of a business to examine the performance of the said business.

Accounting Thesis For Students

Accounting research topic ideas, topics for accounting thesis, interesting accounting topics for your paper, accounting research questions, accounting dissertation topics, research papers topics on accounting, financial topics to write about.

Accounting is essential for majorly business and management students. They start the basics of the subject in their lower levels, and some progress to further the subject in their higher studies. During this period of education, there will come a time they will require accounting topics for the thesis. They will need to focus on all the elements of the thesis in accounting and compile topics that will suit their interests.

Accounting thesis topics for students are tailored towards a particular aspect of the profession. In this manner, picking an accounting thesis topic and nurturing it will be based on your stage of education, be it an undergraduate, master’s, or PhD level.

Usually, there are areas of improvement and weaknesses in the world of finance. These errors are often the birth of research and analysis to create accounting research paper topics, buying a dissertation , or thesis topics in finance for students.

Trying to focus on many problems at a time can make you not finish your research topic in accounting at the appointed time. As a student, this is one error you want to avoid.

Naturally, you cannot master all the accounting subjects with the same ease. Hence, focus on the ones your strength resides in and discard the ones that posed a certain level of difficulty during the study. This is an important tip and recommendation when picking accounting topics for research. Here are some good examples of accounting research topics ideas.

Accounting origin
The Ethics of Accounting and Its Relevance in The Society
Company structure influence on Accounting
Information Systems For Accounting
Accounting and Taxes
Accounting as Relates to Personal Finance
Profit Management
Financial Markets and Accounting
Accounting Methods Applied Throughout History
The Age of Virtual Accountants

Accounting thesis topics for accounting students can be chosen according to the interests, and strengths each student shows in a certain period of their education. This can involve multiple accounting research paper topics, with the student now being left to choose the one they master more appropriately.

Usually, companies have weaknesses in different areas, it is a case of whether they are notable. When trying to pick accounting research topics as an undergraduate, you should focus on a singular problem and view it from various angles of prescriptive solutions.

Inventories of Merchandise
System Control and Inventory Management
Manual of Different Accounting Principles
International Financial Reporting Standards of Negligible Assets
Procedures for Adopting Financial Reporting Standards
Tax Culture as a Method of Keeping Companies in Check
Accounting Guidelines of a Business
Management Accounting Research
Automation of Accounting Processes and Its Effects on Businesses
Data Technology in Accounting Functions

These accounting topics come in forms that pique the interest of accountants and everyday business people. It should be bold, descriptive, and tally with a trending and important issue in all areas that concern the accounting sector. Getting topics like these are not as easy as you would imagine. It usually takes broad-spectrum research and paying rapt attention to business accounting flaws or potential problems.

Modern Techniques of Debt Management
Latest Technologies in Digital Accounting
Fundamental Forensic Accountancy Skills
Importance of Fast Information Integration for Modern Accounting
Analysis and Design Risk in Accounting Systems
Accounting Management and Financial Markets
Issues in Implementation of Theoretical Accounting Processes in Applied Accounting
Strategies to Make Organizational Finances Transparent
Offshore Accounting Processes
Significance of Financial Markets in Different Economies

When looking for accounting research topics ideas, determining the reason behind the question is the most challenging and vital decision in writing topics for accounting research papers. This difficulty arises because the foundation of your entire accounting topic depends on that one question.

Getting it wrong or mixing up the wrong statements can greatly impair the direction of your accounting topic for a research paper. Some good accounting research questions include:

How to Investigate Forensic Accountancy?
How to Avoid Debt Growth in Businesses?
The Process of Making Accurate and Informed Accounting Decisions?
How Does Culture Influence the Accounting System?
Steps to Follow to Become a Certified and Chartered Accountant?
How to Discover Effective Accounting Systems for Accountants?
When Do You Need to Hire Personal Accountants?
What are the limitations of digital Technology Evolution for the Accounting Niche?
What Factors Facilitated the 2008 Worldwide Financial Crisis?
What are the Processes Involved in Tax Assessment in Organizations?

In choosing an accounting topic for a project, you need to pick a topic that interests you, writing becomes easy and fast when you do. You can seek out simple accounting research topics if that’s what you can handle, or you could go for current accounting topics and interesting topics in finance.

However you choose to make that decision is up to you, but whatever topics you eventually come up with must not be vague or narrowly written. There should be a balance. Finally, you should extensively research and review your dissertation topic before making your topic decision. Having all these in mind, let’s look at some project topics on accounting.

Quality in Quantitative Management Accounting Research
Management Accounting and Supply Chain Strategy
Notable Trends in Business Research and Accounting Finance and Management Control
Effect of Auditing On Financial Reporting
Importance of Fraud Detection in a Digital Environment
The Globalization of Auditing Standards- an investigative analysis
Studying the Effects of Intellectual Capital on the Development of Large Industries
Tax Legislation in Freelance Businesses
Critical Analysis of the Effects of Small Business Budgeting on Tertiary Institutions

Research papers on accounting involve a great deal of interest in the subject matter being researched. The aim is to enlighten and provide analytical detail to the readers. Also, in choosing a research paper topic, you should aim to acquire your readers’ attention.

This can be achieved by having sound knowledge of the research topic and gathering relevant information to explain the research better. Here are some good examples of accounting topic research papers.

A Review on Government Management Accounting: Research in 2022
Business Correspondence Analysis: Its Application in Management Accounting Research
The Conceptual Framework of Strategic Management Accounting
Meaning of Accounting Theories for Business
What Impact Does Accounting Information Systems Have on Business Performance?
Best Accounting Practices for Online Businesses
Problems with the Normative Theory of Accounting
Implementation of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board in the University System
The Relationship between Public Sector Expenditure Accounting and Infrastructural Development
Application of Accounting Standards in Critical Business Processes of Financial Conglomerates.

In the world of finance, various improvements are to be made with various issues that need solving. Highlighting the need for change and evolution brings about the intention of addressing these issues.

With the inception of digital currencies, new online databases for recording and carrying out financial transactions, there is a wealth of financial discussions to be had. With this fact also comes greater financial issues that need attention. Some eye-opening financial topics you can write about to address some financial systems include:

Need for Accounting Technology
Issues of Financial Ethics
How to Develop and Improve Financial Systems
Perspectives on Earnings Management
Effective Methods of Tax Reduction for Organizations
Role of Financial Markets in Accounting Management
Methods of Preventing Financial Fraud
What you should know about the Goldman Sachs Securities Fraud Case
Commodities in Financial Markets
Effect of External Factors on Cash Flow

Wrapping up

Accounting thesis topics for students are nearly limitless. Not only with the issues that need solving or understanding, but the different facets of accounting that the world currently operates on that’s why many students are looking for help who will write my thesis , we have good news for such students because we have been doing this for a long time. This gives room for continuous enlightening and improvement due to the various areas accounting comes in contact with. There is the realm of management accounting, auditing, tax accounting, bookkeeping, online accounting, and many more. With the different list of accounting topics and thesis topics suggested, you can pick out any of them and chart your course to become a great accountant in the future.

Psychology in management accounting and control research: an overview of the recent literature

Original Paper
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Published: 21 July 2020
Volume 31 , pages 275–328, ( 2020 )
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Lisa-Marie Wibbeke ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1314-7995 1 &
Maik Lachmann ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5900-0895 1

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For decades, management accounting and control (MAC) researchers have employed a diverse set of source disciplines to predict and examine behavior, and psychology is among the most frequently drawn upon. Although the literature confirms that psychological theories are highly relevant to MAC research, the existing knowledge on this field remains fragmented. Given this background, we examine recent MAC research through a systematic review of the different subfields of psychology to investigate the development of this stream of research. To do so, we collect 125 relevant articles from nine leading accounting journals between 2000 and 2019 and analyze their contents. On this basis, we provide a detailed overview of the use of psychological theories in recent literature and identify links between specific theories and MAC topics. We find that the quantity and proportion of psychology-based MAC research and the diversity of psychology subfields all increase during our investigation period, especially between 2015 and the first half of 2019. Overall, most studies address performance measurement and evaluation topics, and social psychology concepts are the most frequently applied. However, we find considerable differences in the application of psychological theories across different MAC topics. Our review provides insights into the content of this research stream and, thus, serves as a valuable source for researchers seeking an overview of previous investigations drawing on different subfields of psychology.

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1 Introduction

For decades, management accounting and control (MAC) researchers have employed a diverse set of economic theories and sociological or organizational approaches to predict and examine behavior and decision-making (Hesford et al. 2007 ; Hopper and Bui 2016 ; Lachmann et al. 2017 ). Previous literature studies illuminate applications of specific subfields of psychology in MAC research. These studies identify cognitive, motivational, and social psychological theories frequently used in prior research (Birnberg et al. 2007 ) and examine research analyzing subjective decision-making in MAC contexts (Luft and Shields 2009 ). Further, a recent study by Kaplan et al. ( 2018b ) discusses four social psychological theories that have been or could be applied to behavioral accounting. Taken together, these studies indicate that psychology is highly relevant to contemporary MAC research and spark further interest in its contents and characteristics. Although the aforementioned studies discuss psychological theories and, especially, the use of social psychology in MAC research, the literature lacks a recent comprehensive review of applications of theories and concepts beyond social psychology in MAC studies. The prior studies are limited to particular psychology subfields or were conducted several years ago, leaving more recently published research unanalyzed. Prior research, therefore, remains fragmented, impeding the aggregation of knowledge on how psychological theories may complement economic or organizational theories in MAC studies and a deeper understanding of how MAC practices influence behavior and decision-making. Recent trends in psychology-based MAC research, such as the application of personality psychology (Holderness et al. 2017 ; Nichol 2019 ), make a comprehensive review of this topic especially valuable.

Given this background, we investigate recent MAC research employing theories and concepts from the field of psychology through a systematic literature review. Our review aims to explore the main foci of the use of psychological theories in MAC research and intends to examine the links between psychological theories and certain MAC topics. Our review follows a multistep approach in which every step of the systematic literature review process is based on a synthesis of approved review methods (e.g., Cooper 1984 , 1988 ; Grant and Booth 2009 ; Booth et al. 2012 ; Fink 2014 ; Mayring 2014 ). We identify the relevant research through a comprehensive, structured material collection process involving the development and establishment of several selection and inclusion criteria. This material collection process identifies 125 relevant articles out of a total of 5247 articles from nine leading accounting journals between 2000 and 2019. All of these articles are subject to in-depth content analysis that identifies the specific research topics, methods, and psychology subfields drawn upon and the psychological constructs and main findings of each relevant research study. Furthermore, we provide a comprehensive synthesis of the topics examined by the relevant studies and aim to present implications for future research.

Regarding recent developments, we confirm the trends indicated by prior studies (e.g., Hesford et al. 2007 ; Hopper and Bui 2016 ; Lachmann et al. 2017 ) and find that the number and share of psychology-based MAC studies increased over the investigation period, especially between 2015 and the first half of 2019. Additionally, we find that the diversity in psychology subfields increases over the investigation period and that this diversity is especially high between 2015 and the first half of 2019. Both findings indicate a growing interest in employing psychological theories and concepts to foster a better understanding of the consequences and effects of MAC practices on behavior. Regarding MAC topics, most articles examine aspects of performance measurement and evaluation, followed by aspects of compensation, rewards, and incentives and aspects of budgeting. Specifically, subjective performance evaluations and subjective measures (e.g., Kunz 2015 ; Bol and Leiby 2018 ), incentive contract framing and compensation contract selection questions (e.g., Tafkov 2013 ; Reichert and Woods 2017 ), and budgetary slack and honesty in budgeting (e.g., Brown et al. 2014 ; Blay et al. 2019 ) are very frequently investigated using psychology-based theoretical perspectives. Further, we find that social psychology is the predominant subfield of psychology applied to MAC research.

Our findings and syntheses contribute to the literature in several ways. We complement and extend existing discussions of psychology-based studies (e.g., Birnberg et al. 2007 ; Luft and Shields 2009 ; Kaplan et al. 2018b ) by including articles that draw upon theories and concepts from four distinctive subfields of psychology. This includes articles employing theories or concepts from social psychology, cognitive psychology and motivation theory. Furthermore, we significantly extend the scope of prior studies by including articles that draw upon personality psychology, multiple subfields and several smaller subfields. Moreover, we provide a very detailed analysis of the use of psychological theories and concepts in a multitude of MAC subtopics, which allows us to evaluate the developments regarding specific subtopics and topics, as well as psychology-based MAC research as a whole. To our knowledge, this review is the first to systematically collect, analyze, and synthesize such a broad spectrum of psychology-based research from the selected journals to illuminate the characteristics and knowledge generation of this research stream during this time period. Further, our review draws a picture of an evolving research landscape and suggests several future research opportunities, as well as emerging new facets in psychology-based MAC research.

Moreover, our synthesis and contextualization show, there are specific domains, where reactions to implemented MAC practices are significantly affected by psychological aspects. Among others, reactions to, e.g., PME systems, compensation, rewards or incentives benefit from psychology-based explanations of behavioral patterns. For instance, designers of PME systems should be aware that personality traits like psychological entitlement can affect one’s behavioral response to performance feedback (Holderness et al. 2017 ) or that compensation contract selection may be affected by one’s need for achievement (Fehrenbacher et al. 2017 ). Thus, our review advocates the consideration of such aspects, and we provide relevant insights on these mechanisms for academics, practitioners, and designers of MAC practices and systems.

The remaining sections of this review are structured as follows. Section 2 provides a brief overview of predominant psychology subfields in and the history of psychology-based MAC research, as well as previous studies regarding this research stream. Next, Sect. 3 describes our research methods and explains our systematic collection and review of the relevant research. The categorization process and the coding scheme developed for this purpose are also introduced in Sect. 3 . Subsequently, our findings are presented in Sect. 4 . In Sect. 5 our findings are synthesized and discussed regarding possible implications of the recent developments and future research avenues. We conclude by reflecting on the contributions and limitations of our systematic review.

2 Psychology in MAC research

2.1 brief overview of predominant subfields.

Owing to its role in facilitating and influencing decisions, MAC has a “behavioral function” (Caplan 1966, p . 496). It seems intuitive that some of the behavioral effects and impacts of MAC practices can only be predicted, examined, and eventually understood if researchers incorporate assumptions regarding the intrinsic processes and psychological aspects determining behavior into the research. Footnote 1 In the domain of psychology, the existence of individual differences in people’s personalities, intelligence levels, and cognitive functions, such as perception or memory, is believed to manifest in behavioral differences (e.g., Anastasi 1971 ; Boyle 2004 ; Chamorro-Premuzic and Furhnam 2006 ; Roberson 2016 ). The field of psychology is therefore described as “the scientific investigation of mental processes (thinking, remembering, feeling, etc.) and behavior” (Westen 2002, p . 2). Thus, psychology focuses on subjective phenomena, such as emotional affective reactions, motivations, or mental representations of information (Birnberg et al. 2007 ; Luft and Shields 2009 ). This indicates a great number of possibly relevant subfields of psychology for researchers to draw upon. Prior research by Birnberg et al. (2007) finds that cognitive, motivational, and social psychological theories are frequently used. They conclude that MAC researchers employ a variety of different psychological theories from these subfields and that these theories are commonly applied to explain the motivational (e.g., effects on the willingness to exert effort) and informational effects (e.g., influences on judgments and decisions) of MAC practices (Birnberg et al. 2007 ). We describe these three subfields in the following paragraph.

Social psychology addresses the interactions of individual psychology with group phenomena by examining “the influence of real or imagined others on the way people behave.” (Westen 2002, p . 24). This subfield, therefore, aims to understand the effects of social influences, such as attitudes, social interactions, and relationships, on individual behavior (Birnberg et al. 2007 ). Cognitive psychology, in contrast, attempts to understand human cognition by observing individual behavior when performing various cognitive tasks and processes, such as attention, judgments, decisions, or learning (Birnberg et al. 2007 ; Eysenck and Keane 2010 ). In motivation psychology , an individual’s motivation may be described as a set of reasons, needs, and goals initiating and directing individual behavior (Maslow 1943 ; Deci and Ryan 1985 ). Motivation theories in psychology are therefore plentiful and range from drive theories, which argue that a number of physiological drives determine behavior, to theories of intrinsic motivation and self-determination, which focus more on psychologically-based motives (Deci and Ryan 1985 ). Birnberg et al. (2007) further describe motivation theory as the investigation of arousal, direction, intensity, and persistence of effort, four behaviors that influence psychological processes. In addition to these three subfields, our review identifies personality psychology as a subfield that has recently drawn more attention from MAC researchers. In contrast to the other subfields, personality psychology “examines people’s enduring ways of responding in different kinds of situations and the ways individuals differ in the ways they tend to think, feel and behave” (Westen 2002, p . 24). Personality psychology, therefore, studies human universals, individual differences, and individual uniqueness (Cervone and Pervin 2013 ). Table 1 provides a brief overview and lists a selection of the theories within these subfields. Footnote 2

2.2 Origins and development

The employment of psychological theories is not new to MAC research; it may be traced back to the 1950s and the seminal work by Argyris (1952) (Birnberg et al. 2007 ; Hall 2016 ). In his study, Argyris (1952) employs concepts of human relations and group dynamics to examine the influence of budgets and the budgeting process on employee’s minds, behavior, motivations, and interpersonal relations in a social context. Footnote 3 His findings come from interviews with operating and finance supervisors at four production plants, highlight the influence of budgets on employees’ motivations and social relations, and, thus, are the first to emphasize the importance of integrating psychological factors into MAC research. According to Birnberg et al. (2007) , early research conducted after Argyris’s (1952) seminal work further strengthens the relevance of psychological explanations to understanding MAC practices’ effects on behavior and decision-making. Early studies (e.g., Stedry 1960 ; Barefield 1972 ; Hopwood 1972 ; Mock et al. 1972 ) focus on incorporating concepts from motivational theory and social and cognitive psychology into the MAC research domain (Birnberg et al. 2007 ).

Several studies find that psychology is one of the most common source disciplines employed by researchers to describe the effects of MAC practices (Hesford et al. 2007 ; Hopper and Bui 2016 ; Lachmann et al. 2017 ). In 2007, Hesford et al. (2007) conducted a bibliographic study investigating expansions in terms of new research topics, methods, and theoretical perspectives in MAC research since the 1980s. They find that although more studies draw on economic or sociological perspectives, psychology is among the most frequently used source disciplines employed in MAC research studies between 1981 and 2000 (Hesford et al. 2007 ). More recent studies confirm this result for the period from 1980 to 2012; Lachmann et al. (2017) assess the development and state of positivist MAC research regarding diversity and validity and find that researchers between 1980 and 2012 most frequently relied on economic theories, psychological theories, and theories of organizational behavior. Furthermore, their findings provide evidence that the share and number of publications drawing on psychological theories increased during the 2000s and 2010s. Examining contributions to the journal Management Accounting Research (MAR) over the last 25 years, Hopper and Bui (2016) also find an increase in the adoption of psychological theories in articles published in MAR between 2000 and 2014.

As noted in Sect. 2.1 , there are prior review studies that provide an introduction to the psychological theories that have been frequently used in MAC research (e.g., Birnberg et al. 2007 ; Luft and Shields 2009 ). In comparison to the review by Birnberg et al. ( 2007 ) mentioned above, the review by Luft and Shields (2009) examines psychology-based research describing and analyzing subjective decision-making in MAC contexts. They find that studies published from the 1970s to the 2000s concentrate on the influence of subjective cognitive phenomena on the performance of subjective decisions. Newer studies incorporate more social concepts, such as preferences, individual valuations of (non-monetary) payoffs, and emotional reactions (Luft and Shields 2009 ). A similar recent study focuses on behavioral accounting. Kaplan et al. ( 2018b ) discuss four social psychological theories that have been or could be applied to behavioral accounting. They provide an overview of the findings of selected behavioral accounting studies that encompass interpersonal affect, accountability, attribution, and social comparison, and they expect that social psychological theories, in particular, will continue to inspire behavioral accounting research.

Taken together, the findings of prior studies by Birnberg et al. (2007) , Luft and Shields (2009) , and Kaplan et al. ( 2018b ) show a great diversity in the use of psychological theories and psychology subfields in behavioral accounting and, specifically, MAC research. They also provide evidence that psychology is employed in a variety of MAC contexts to foster a better understanding of the behavioral consequences of MAC practices. However, the aforementioned studies are either limited to a particular subfield of psychology or were conducted several years ago. Thus, despite the seemingly increasing importance of behavioral aspects, the MAC literature lacks a systematic review of applications of psychological theories and concepts in recent MAC studies. Consequently, research results remain fragmented, impeding the aggregation of knowledge of psychology’s ability to contribute to addressing recent challenges and emerging topics in MAC research.

Based on this reasoning, our study addresses the research questions of which psychological theories and concepts are most intensively applied in recent MAC research and which trends in the use of psychological theories and concepts are observable. Therefore, we conduct a systematic review following a multistep approach based on approved review methods (e.g., Cooper 1984 , 1988 ; Grant and Booth 2009 ; Booth et al. 2012 ; Fink 2014 ; Mayring 2014 ). The following section explains our review scope, the structured material collection, and the descriptive and content analysis.

3.1 Review scope, material collection and article selection

We limit our review scope to psychology-based MAC research articles published between 2000 and the first half of 2019 by a selection of leading accounting journals. First, we define psychology-based articles as articles that employ either psychological theories or theories that originate from psychology ( e.g., role theory in social psychology ) or that concentrate on single phenomena within psychological theories ( e.g., the phenomenon of role ambiguity within role theory ). We do so because MAC researchers may develop theoretical models by employing entire theories or a specific single phenomenon associated with a psychological theory.

Second, the period after 2000 is believed to be characterized by a broad spectrum of MAC research methods and theoretical perspectives, as well as an increase in publications drawing on psychology as a subdiscipline (Scapens 2006 ; Hopper and Bui 2016 ; Lachmann et al. 2017 ). As enumerated above, prior reviews examined selected articles, earlier years of this period, or are limited to a particular subfield of psychology (e.g., Birnberg et al. 2007 ; Luft and Shields 2009 ; Kaplan et al. 2018b ). However, much of the knowledge generated by research studies published after Birnberg et al. (2007) or Luft and Shields (2009) has remained fragmented. Thus, to foster the aggregation of knowledge, we include articles published between 2000 and the first half of 2019. Further, we extend the scope of previous studies by analyzing articles that employ psychological theories and concepts from a multitude of subfields. We include research drawing upon social and cognitive psychology, motivation theory, personality psychology, multiple subfields, and several smaller subfields.

Third, we follow prior literature studies (e.g., Hesford et al. 2007 ; Lachmann et al. 2017 ) in selecting some of the most influential publication outlets. Thus, our journal selection reflects leading accounting journals according to accounting faculty surveys and journal rankings as well as diverse outlets in terms of origins, publishing authors, and topics. Footnote 4 Our selection includes the following nine journals (in alphabetical order): Accounting, Organizations and Society (AOS), Behavioral Research in Accounting (BRIA), Contemporary Accounting Research (CAR), European Accounting Review (EAR), Journal of Accounting and Economics (JAE), Journal of Accounting Research (JAR), Journal of Management Accounting Research (JMAR), Management Accounting Research (MAR), and The Accounting Review (TAR).

Following the literature on efficient material collection (e.g., Fink 2014 ), we consecutively perform the initial and final inclusion steps. The initial inclusion step aims to identify potentially relevant articles by examining titles, keywords, and abstracts (Booth et al. 2012 ). The following criteria for relevant articles are established to operationalize the scope of our review:

Must cover MAC topics.

Must be an original research article.

Must employ an empirical research method. Footnote 5

Must indicate the use of psychological theories or related constructs in the title, abstract, or keywords.

Consequently, we individually examine all the articles published in the nine selected journals during the investigation period by visiting the journals’ or corresponding journal publishers’ websites and browsing their article archives starting in 2000. Table 2 provides an overview of the number of articles retrieved after each material collection step.

First, we read and screened the titles, keywords, and abstracts of all 5247 articles for indications of nonoriginal research articles, research methods used, and references to MAC topics. Then, we screened the titles, keywords, and abstracts of all the identified empirical original research articles addressing MAC topics a second time to detect indications of the use of psychological theories or constructs. This second screening procedure aims to identify terminology associated with psychology in general, such as “cognitive,” “attribution,” or “motivation,” and it deems articles that use this terminology as potentially relevant. The initial inclusion step identified 204 potentially relevant articles to be further examined in the final inclusion step. In the final inclusion step, we subjected the full texts of all 204 potentially relevant articles to an extended screening procedure that verified the employment of theories or concepts from psychology subfields. This final step, however, requires the authors of articles to explicitly refer to psychological theories or constructs in developing their studies’ theoretical backgrounds or hypotheses. Footnote 6 Owing to the diversity in research strategies and the different foci of the articles, references to psychology are not necessarily equally evident. For most articles, inclusion eligibility is rather clear owing to the wording and explicit mentioning of theories related to psychology subfields. Footnote 7 The final inclusion check identifies 125 relevant articles to be analyzed in the following sections of this review.

3.2 Process and methods of analysis

All 125 included articles were subject to content analysis. According to Mayring (2014) , content analysis is a mixed-methods approach that combines the assignment of categories to essential text points and the additional quantitative analysis of the frequency of those categories. Thus, following prior research (e.g., Shields 1997 ; Scandura and Williams 2000 ; Hesford et al. 2007 ; Lachmann et al. 2017 ), we perform descriptive analyses and examine the frequency of categories and subcategories in our data set to identify certain patterns in the article contents. Moreover, we apply linear time-based regressions (Scandura and Williams 2000 ) to identify trends in the use of the different psychology subfields in MAC research to complement our frequency analysis. Furthermore, to examine the diversity in the applied psychology subfields over time and in certain content areas, we calculate “heterogeneity indices” (Scandura and Williams 2000 ; Harrison and Klein 2007 ). These indices show that homogeneity is greater when, for instance, a large proportion of articles employ a particular psychology subfield as opposed to a more equal application of a variety of subfields (Scandura and Williams 2000 ).

In assigning the categories, we focus on determining MAC topics, psychology background, and research methods for each article. Thus, we (re)examine the titles, abstracts, keywords, and full texts. Most of the content analysis is conducted during the initial and final inclusion stages of the structured material collection. This approach allows us to efficiently collect all the relevant information but also minimize the number of individual (re)examinations of each article. Initially, we record the topics, psychological theories and concepts, and research methods of all 125 articles using each article’s terminology. In a second step, these records are harmonized (e.g., the terms performance evaluation, performance assessment, and performance appraisal are summarized by the term performance evaluation ) to allow for precise and consistent categorization. To synthesize and contextualize the articles, we design a category scheme based on frameworks employed in prior literature reviews (e.g., Shields 1997 ; Scandura and Williams 2000 ; Hesford et al. 2007 ; Lachmann et al. 2017 ). However, these frameworks are extensively modified to reflect the contents of our included articles. The category scheme consists of the three coding dimensions (codes 1–3) outlined in Tables 3 and 4 . Each coding dimension consists of several categories that may be further divided into the subcategories. The categories represent the topics examined, the relevant psychology subfields, and the research methods employed.

The code 1 categories refer to the subfield of MAC that the primarily examined topics can be assigned to. The topic categories are developed based on the categories employed in prior studies (e.g., Shields 1997 ; Hesford et al. 2007 ; Lachmann et al. 2017 ) and the results of our content analysis. Table 3 depicts the nine categories of topics used in this review. To describe the subjects in greater detail, the topics of the included articles were recorded in detail during content analysis and harmonized afterward. Thereby, the identified topics have been summarized under several generic terms to further classify the articles into the respective categories.

The budgeting category comprises articles focusing on, for example, budgetary slack, participative budgeting, or budget reporting. Articles in the compensation, rewards, and incentives category concentrate on the design of compensation contracts or choices regarding reward types and incentives. The third category, costing systems , comprises articles on participation in costing system design or the effects of costing systems. Articles covering factors that influence decision-making and decision quality are assigned to the decision - making category. Next, the organizational control category features articles that mainly deal with project controls, creativity controls, and other internal control systems not covered by the other categories of this review. The performance measurement and evaluation category comprises articles that focus on the evaluation process and its outcomes (e.g., the effects of subjectivity in weighting performance measures on employee performance) or on performance measurement system design (e.g., the choice of performance measures). Articles on perceptions of the role of management accountants are assigned to the roles in management control systems category. Lastly, the strategic MAC category includes articles focusing on strategic performance measurement systems. In order to contextualize the findings of our content analysis, the code 1-categories are further subdivided by subcategories that allow us to present frequently examined topics and applied psychological theories and concepts in Sect. 4.2 .

The code 2 categories shown in Table 4 refer to the subfield of psychology that the employed psychological theories and concepts originated from. The concepts and theories were identified in the titles, keywords, abstract or full text of the respective article. The basic framework for code 2 relies on the often-researched psychological theories and constructs from Birnberg et al. (2007) ’s comprehensive overview. As enumerated above, we added the personality category because we identify this subfield in several of the 125 included articles. Further, the multiple category is used for studies employing at least two theories or concepts from different subfields of psychology (e.g., a combination of social and cognitive concepts). Lastly, the code 3 categories are derived from the research method categorization scheme developed by Lachmann et al. (2017) , who use a modified version of Hesford et al.’s (2007) categorization scheme. In line with this research, we distinguish between surveys, experiments, archival studies, case studies, and field studies. We also distinguish between laboratory and field experiments. Footnote 8 This scheme is extended by the multiple category to allow for precise categorizations of articles employing more than one empirical research method.

To ensure as few deviations as possible in the coding of included articles, a sample of articles was precoded. Subsequently, the categories and corresponding definitions were further clarified and then reapplied to all included articles. The records of all 125 articles constitute the data set for our analyses.

4.1 Descriptive analysis

We find that eight of the nine selected journals published articles employing psychological theories and concepts during our investigation period. AOS published the most articles fulfilling all the inclusion criteria (22), followed by TAR (21), MAR (17), CAR (16), JMAR (15), BRIA (15), EAR (10), and JAR (9). Figure 1 shows the distribution of articles over the investigation period. We identified between three to five articles in each year between 2000 and 2005, but we could not find any articles eligible for inclusion in 2006.

Frequency of publication year

The number of included articles increased from zero to five in 2007 and eventually reached its first peak (13) in 2012. These thirteen articles account for 15.7% of all MAC-themed articles identified in 2012. The years 2013 through 2015 contain fewer included publications (eight, seven, and four articles, respectively), and the thirteen and twelve articles published in 2017 and 2018, respectively, comprise a second peak. These articles constitute 16.8% and 14.6%, respectively, of MAC-themed articles. Interestingly, we identify nine articles employing psychological theories and concepts in the first half of 2019, comprising 18% of all MAC-themed articles in this year. A time-based regression analysis reveals a significant increase in the number and share of psychology-based articles over time (both p < 0.01), indicating that psychological theories and concepts are more frequently applied in MAC studies in recent years. Footnote 9

Psychology-based MAC articles may address several different topics. However, they most frequently examine performance measurement and evaluation (39), followed by aspects of compensation, rewards, and incentives (36); budgeting (17); and organizational control (12). Table 5 provides an overview of the frequencies of all topic categories. Most of the studies conduct experiments (83), especially laboratory experiments (76). Footnote 10

Table 6 presents the frequencies of psychology subfields across the topic categories. Most articles rely on concepts from a single subfield (94) (i.e., the social, cognitive, motivation, or personality categories) rather than employing concepts from multiple subfields simultaneously (31). Social psychology (44) is the most utilized subfield, followed by cognitive psychology (27). Most of the articles drawing on social psychology build their theoretical foundations using social comparison theory (e.g., Hannan et al. 2013 ; Tafkov 2013 ; Knauer et al. 2017 ), social norms (e.g., Fisher et al. 2000 ; Maas and van Rinsum 2013 ; Blay et al. 2019 ), attribution theory (e.g., Coletti et al. 2005 ; Hartmann and Slapničar 2009 ), or social identity theory (e.g., Towry 2003 ; Hiller et al. 2014 ; Tian et al. 2016 ).

Prospect theory (e.g., Church et al. 2008 ; Oblak et al. 2018 ), mental models (e.g., Kadous and Sedor 2003 ; Hall 2011 ), and cognitive biases (e.g., Libby et al. 2004 ; Fehrenbacher et al. 2018 ) are concepts from cognitive psychology that are frequently employed. Footnote 11 Fewer studies are built on motivation concepts (15) and personality psychology (8) alone. When examining motivational issues, studies are often built on self-determination theory (e.g., Kunz and Linder 2012 ; Groen et al. 2017 ), followed by concepts of intrinsic motivation (e.g., Wong-On-Wing et al. 2010 ; Christ et al. 2012 ). We identify a rather diverse set of concepts from personality psychology in the included articles, but the concepts of tolerance for ambiguity (e.g., Hartmann and Slapničar 2012 ) and psychological entitlement (e.g., Nichol 2019 ) are both employed by several studies.

The 31 articles employing concepts from multiple subfields simultaneously mostly rely on a combination of motivation and social psychology concepts (8), followed by a combination of cognitive and social psychology concepts (5). Footnote 12 Thus, social psychology is also the prevalent theoretical foundation when multiple subfields are applied simultaneously. Interestingly, personality psychology is used more often in combination (10) with the other psychology subfields (i.e., the social, cognitive, or motivation subfields), than as a single subfield (8). Footnote 13 The remaining studies that draw upon multiple subfields also incorporate concepts from industrial and organizational psychology (e.g., Maas and Matějka 2009 ), neuropsychology (e.g., Farrell et al. 2014 ), or positive psychology (e.g., Burney and Widener 2013 ).

To foster our understanding, we calculate heterogeneity indices to measure the diversity of applications of psychology subfields within our topic categories. We find that the diversity of psychology subfields is relatively high for most topic categories. The heterogeneity index is especially high within the costing systems ( h = 0.750) and performance measurement and evaluation categories ( h = 0.747) and is rather low in the roles in management control systems category ( h = 0.375). Footnote 14 Nevertheless, the specific psychology subfields and the extent to which they are employed both differ across topic categories and subtopics. For example, on the one hand, studies that examine aspects of performance measurement and evaluation predominantly employ cognitive concepts (14), followed by concepts from multiple subfields (10) and social (8), motivation (4), and personality (3) concepts. On the other hand, studies of issues regarding compensation, rewards, and incentives mostly rely on social psychology (14), followed by concepts from multiple subfields (11) and cognitive (5), motivation (3), and personality (3) concepts. According to our analysis, the use of personality psychology, even in combination with other subfields, is restricted to certain MAC topics and subtopics. We do not identify articles employing personality concepts to examine strategic MAC aspects, costing systems, or roles in management control systems.

The temporal distribution depicted in Fig. 2 illustrates that the range of subfields used in MAC research has increased over the years.

Frequency of psychology subfields by year

Whereas studies drew upon four subfields in 2000, they drew on only one to three subfields in the years between 2001 and 2005. We find that the use of psychological theories and concepts was more diverse between 2015 and 2019. From 2015 to the first half of 2019, we identify articles employing concepts from social, cognitive, and motivation psychology and multiple subfields simultaneously. Furthermore, five out of the seven articles employing personality psychology were published in 2017 and 2019 (Fehrenbacher et al. 2017 ; Holderness et al. 2017 ; Wang 2017 ; Davidson 2019 ; Nichol 2019 ). Moreover, three articles that rely on a combination of personality psychology and other subfields were published in 2017, 2018, and 2019 (Reichert and Woods 2017 ; Kaplan et al. 2018a ; Chong and Wang 2019 ). The heterogeneity index for psychology subfields is very high at the end of the examined time span, indicating that researchers have tended to apply a greater diversity of subfields in more recent years ( h 2015–2019 ≥ 0.722). Footnote 15 The time-based regression analyses provide further evidence that social ( p = 0.013), motivational ( p = 0.076), and personality concepts ( p = 0.039) increase in importance over time, whereas the use of cognitive concepts remains relatively stable over the examined time span ( p = 0.209). The number of articles that apply more than one psychological theory or concept also significantly increases between 2000 and 2019 ( p = 0.014).

To further illuminate these developments, we contextualize selected articles that allow us to present frequently examined topics and applied psychological theories and concepts in the following section.

4.2 Content analysis

4.2.1 performance measurement and evaluation.

Subjective performance evaluation and subjective measures The research stream shown in Table 7 addresses subjective elements in performance evaluations. We find that cognitive psychology, particularly the effects of heuristics (e.g., Bailey et al. 2011 ; Dai et al. 2018 ) and biases (e.g., Bol and Smith 2011 ; Fehrenbacher et al. 2018 ), is a focal point of this research.

Although heuristic reasoning may simplify complex cognitive judgment tasks, it is associated with systematic judgment errors referred to as biases (Kahneman and Tversky 1982 ). Subjective performance evaluations are often based on a starting point, such as a specific performance measure or information in a report. Different starting points may result in different outcomes, and the cognitive anchoring heuristic describes a decision being biased towards this starting point (Kahneman and Tversky 1982 ). Bailey et al. (2011) investigate this phenomenon and find evidence for anchoring in the presence of contractible and non-contractible information. Their results suggest that anchoring eventually leads to less incorporation of non-contractible information in supervisors’ bonus pool allocation decisions, and, thus, such allocations may be biased (Bailey et al. 2011 ). Newer research examines heuristic reasoning in performance measure weighting and finds measures that are perceived as more scientific influence evaluation decisions more strongly (Dai et al. 2018 ).

Additionally, cognitive psychology is used to illuminate the tendency to overweight the implications of specific performance measures in performance evaluations, a bias referred to as the outcome effect (Ghosh and Lusch 2000 ; Ittner et al. 2003 ). Under the outcome effect, evaluators tend to evaluate positive outcomes positively and negative outcomes negatively, ignoring whether the actions that led to the outcomes were appropriate (Mitchell and Kalb 1981 ; Ghosh and Lusch 2000 ; Ittner et al. 2003 ). Ghosh and Lusch’s (2000) field study provides evidence for the outcome effect in subjective performance evaluations of retail store managers. They find that these evaluations are impacted by the outcome effect, as failing to meet a store’s target leads to a less positive evaluation of a manager. A similar study provides evidence that the subjective weighting of performance measures allows supervisors to ignore many of them and overweight financial outcome measures (Ittner et al. 2003 ). Furthermore, researchers address spillover effects, a bias that potentially arises through knowledge about (prior) evaluation outcomes or ambiguous performance information (Murphy et al. 1985 ; Huber et al. 1987 ; Bol and Smith 2011 ). Bol and Smith (2011) use this term to describe knowledge about performance on one task influencing a supervisor’s subjective evaluations of an employee’s performance on a separate task. They show that subjective evaluations are directionally influenced, indicating spillover effects between performance on different tasks (Bol and Smith 2011 ). A similar laboratory experiment finds that spillovers between subjective and objective measures also exist by showing that subjective performance evaluations are directionally biased towards the valence of objective performance measures (Fehrenbacher et al. 2018 ).

Provision of relative performance information and relative performance evaluation Another stream of research considers the provision of relative performance information (RPI) and relative performance evaluation (RPE). An overview of this research is provided in Table 8 . Our analysis shows that some the psychology-based research on RPI and RPE draws upon social comparison theory (e.g., Hannan et al. 2013 ; Eyring and Narayanan 2018 ; Hartmann and Schreck 2018 ). Social comparison theory is based on the assumption that individuals evaluate their abilities by comparing themselves to others, a process that eventually influences their self-image and behavior (Festinger 1954 ; Hannan et al. 2013 ). The studies that we examine provide evidence that RPI induces comparison processes and, thus, has both effort motivation and effort distortion effects and may trigger positive or negative affective reactions (Hannan et al. 2013 ; Mahlendorf et al. 2014 ; Eyring and Narayanan 2018 ; Hartmann and Schreck 2018 ).

When not drawing upon social comparison theory, researchers incorporate aspects of personality into their research, such as the three personality traits of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy, which are also referred to as the Dark Triad of personality traits (Paulhus and Williams 2002 ; Wang 2017 ). All three are rather negative character traits that are associated with strategic manipulation, a sense of superiority, high impulsiveness, or low empathy (Wang 2017 ). In the context of recognition programs, Wang’s (2017) laboratory experiment examines the Dark Triad of personality traits and suggests that the provision of RPI can have productive or counterproductive effects depending on an individual’s score on those traits. A second social and personality construct examined in this research is negativity bias. Negativity bias refers to an individual’s tendency to place more weight on negative information than on neutral or positive information (Baumeister et al. 2001 ; Kaplan et al. 2012 ). Two studies in our sample investigate this bias. First, Kaplan et al. (2012) conduct two laboratory experiments on RPE. They find that evaluators exhibit negativity bias and, thus, tend to weight measures with negative performance differences more than those with positive performance differences (Kaplan et al. 2012 ). Kaplan et al. ( 2018a ) not only replicate these findings in another laboratory experiment but also find that the negativity bias is enhanced when negative performance differences exist for strategically linked measures. Furthermore, they find that relative self-assessments are also prone to negativity bias.

Other influences on performance evaluations and evaluation outcomes We identify nine articles investigating influences on performance evaluations not addressed by the preceding subtopics. Table 9 provides an overview of these articles.

We find that personality characteristics and social phenomena seem to be especially relevant for these topics. For example, Liedtka et al. (2008) and Ding and Beaulieu (2011) both identify the effects of balanced scorecard (BSC) design on performance evaluation using social concepts and a combination of personality and cognitive concepts. Incorporating prospect theory, Liedtka et al. (2008) examine how an evaluator’s tolerance for ambiguity influences evaluation outcomes. According to prospect theory, individuals exhibit different risk behaviors when facing gain and loss situations (Tversky and Kahneman 1979 ; Liedtka et al. 2008 ). The personality trait of tolerance for ambiguity refers to individuals’ tolerances for different levels of ambiguity in the information they receive, and individuals make judgments according to those tolerances (Budner 1962 ; Liedtka et al. 2008 ). They find that this trait applies to evaluations based on BSCs and that variation between measures within BSC categories can affect the evaluation outcomes of ambiguity-intolerant individuals. Furthermore, Ding and Beaulieu’s (2011) laboratory experiment results suggest that the occurrence of affective reactions and mood congruency biases are associated with BSC complexity. When such biases occur, judgments and decisions relate to the evaluator’s mood and may not be hindered even by the implementation of incentives to avoid such behavior (Ding and Beaulieu 2011 ). Moreover, personality traits, such as tolerance for ambiguity (Hartmann and Slapničar 2012 ), and social concepts, such as leadership style (Hartmann and Maas 2010 ), are found to be associated with an individual’s perceived fairness of evaluations. Interestingly, reactions to performance feedback are also affected by personality characteristics. For example, the effect of feedback on individual performance depends on the degree of the recipient’s personality trait of psychological entitlement, which is a sense of deserving more than others (Campbell et al. 2004 ; Holderness et al. 2017 ).

Performance measurement system design Choices regarding performance measurement system (PMS) design are addressed by seven articles, as shown in Table 10 . Our analysis indicates that psychology-based research on PMS design is primarily influenced by cognitive psychology.

For instance, mental models are employed in the investigations of performance measure diversity by Hall ( 2008 , 2011 ). Mental models are subjective, cognitive representations of concepts or relations that can be drawn upon to make judgments and decisions (Markman 1999 ; Birnberg et al. 2007 ; Hall 2008 , 2011 ). Hall (2008) provides evidence that comprehensive PMSs influence social-psychological aspects, cognition, and motivation, which, in turn, are linked to managerial performance. Furthermore, comprehensive PMSs support the cognitive processes of forming new mental models and confirming existing mental models, which both positively affect performance (Hall 2011 ). Furthermore, decision-makers’ behavioral heuristics or cognitive biases are affected by PMS design. For example, as the findings of a field study suggest, the incorporation of behavioral nudges into performance measurement models can serve to exploit or mitigate managers’ heuristics or cognitive biases (Malina and Selto 2015 ). Recent research employs cognitive psychology to investigate the decision-facilitating role of PMSs using the concept of cognitive conflict (Bedford et al. 2019 ). Bedford et al. ( 2019 ) explain that cognitive conflict is triggered by the perception of differences in opinions or judgments of appropriate actions or procedures to achieve an objective. They find that firms choose performance measures that induce cognitive conflict, allowing them to translate ambidextrous strategies into innovation.

Participation in PMS design Five articles on participation in PMS design are depicted in Table 11 . We find that researchers highlight the motivational effects of this participation.

One theory used in this regard is self-determination theory (e.g., Groen et al. 2017 ; Groen 2018 ). This theory distinguishes between autonomous and controlled motivation (Ryan and Deci 2000 ; Gagné and Deci 2005 ; Groen et al. 2017 ). Autonomously motivated individuals feel that they may choose to act and behave to satisfy their personal needs, whereas, under controlled motivation, individuals feel rather pressured to take actions that satisfy external demands (Gagné and Deci 2005 ; Groen et al. 2017 ). Groen et al. (2017) employ the self-determination theory to investigate the effects of employee participation in developing performance measures. Although they do not directly measure motivation, they find an indirect effect of this participation on employee performance when managers use the co-developed performance measures for subsequent evaluations (Groen et al. 2017 ). Groen’s (2018) survey extends this knowledge on the effects of participation. She complements the self-determination theory with the social exchange and goal-setting theory. Social exchange theory focuses on the social phenomenon of offering some benefit for reciprocation (Blau 1964 ; Groen 2018 ). Conversely, goal-setting theory relates to defining effective goals in work settings and posits that goals affect motivation and performance (Locke and Latham 2002 ). Groen (2018) finds a relation between participation and goal coherence and provides evidence that perceptions of fairness mediate the relation between participation and goal commitment. The relation between participation and goal coherence is further confirmed by combining goal-setting theory and mental models theory (de Haas and Algera 2002 ).

4.2.2 Compensation, rewards, and incentives

Incentive contract framing and compensation contract selection Table 12 provides information about the articles that address contract framing and contract selection topics. Our analysis reveals a focus on cognitive psychological theories, especially prospect theory and related concepts (e.g., Church et al. 2008 ; Hales and Williamson 2010 ; Hirsch et al. 2017 ; Oblak et al. 2018 ). As previously explained, prospect theory deals with decision-making under risk (Tversky and Kahneman 1979 ). We find that researchers employ prospect theory to, for example, investigate the effects of implicit employment contracts on firm productivity (Hales and Williamson 2010 ) or to examine the effects of clawback provisions on information processing and investment behavior (Hirsch et al. 2017 ).

Moreover, two studies also use prospect theory to examine the influence of contract framing on work effort (Church et al. 2008 ; Oblak et al. 2018 ). Church et al. (2008) compare the effects of budget-based incentive contracts framed in terms of bonuses and penalties. Consistent with prospect theory, they find that individuals exert more effort to avoid penalties than to receive bonus payments. Furthermore, prospect theory is applied to compare the effects of fair and unfair outcome distributions in differently framed contracts. Oblak et al. (2018) extend Church et al.’s (2008) findings by showing that when the distribution is unfair, risk-taking behavior and effort are the same for bonus and penalty contracts. When payment is fair, however, penalty contracts have strong positive effects on individual risk-taking and effort (Oblak et al. 2018 ).

There are interactions between personality factors and incentive contract design choices (e.g., Fehrenbacher et al. 2017 ; Reichert and Woods 2017 ). Fehrenbacher et al. ( 2017 ) investigate the effects of task-related skills, risk preferences, and personality traits on employees’ compensation contract selections. Specifically, they examine the personality traits of need for achievement and locus of control. The personality trait of need for achievement can be subsumed within an urge to continually improve, whereas locus of control refers to whether individuals believe that they can control events (Rotter 1966 ; Fehrenbacher et al. 2017 ). Fehrenbacher et al.’s ( 2017 ) findings indicate that choosing a performance-based contract is not only associated with an individual’s skill level and risk preferences but also with that individual’s need for achievement and locus of control.

Provision of feedback and reward types As shown in Table 13 , the motivational aspects of the provision of feedback and rewards are strongly emphasized. Research on these topics mostly employs self-determination theory (e.g., Drake et al. 2007 ; Stone et al. 2010 ; Kunz and Linder 2012 ). These studies extend the use of self-determination theory to, for example, examine the reliability of financial incentives (Stone et al. 2010 ) or illuminate the effects of non-monetary rewards relative to those of financial rewards (Kunz and Linder 2012 ). Drake et al. (2007) combine aspects of self-determination theory with the social concept of psychological empowerment.

Drake et al. (2007) examine the impacts of performance-based reward types and types of performance feedback on psychological empowerment, a multidimensional concept that can be split into the dimensions of perceived impact and competence and self-determination (Drake et al. 2007 ; Spreitzer 1995 ). They provide evidence that the types of feedback and rewards affect different dimensions of the empowerment construct. Furthermore, financial feedback is positively associated with perceived impact, whereas performance-based rewards negatively impact self-determination and perceived competence (Drake et al. 2007 ). Other researchers use goal-setting and goal conflict theory to study the effects of reward types. For instance, Presslee et al. (2013) find differences in goal setting, goal commitment, and performance across tangible and cash rewards. Receiving tangible rewards is associated with the selection of less challenging goals and more commitment to achieving self-selected goals. However, average performance is better when receiving cash rewards owing to the selection of more challenging goals (Presslee et al. 2013 ). Christ et al. (2016) , in contrast, draw upon goal conflict theory in the context of multidimensional tasks. Goal conflict theory suggests that individuals have difficulty responding to multiple and conflicting goals at the same time (Kehr 2003 ; Christ et al. 2016 ). Christ et al. (2016) incorporate this theory and find that compensation on multiple task dimensions decreases overall performance, as employees commit to multiple goals and divide their attention between these goals. The conflict can be reduced through a combination of compensation and (non-monetary) feedback on different task dimensions.

Tournament incentive schemes The seven articles depicted in Table 14 address tournament incentive schemes. We find that this research is predominantly based on social comparison theory (e.g., Hannan et al. 2008 ; Knauer et al. 2017 ; Berger et al. 2018 ).

For instance, social comparison theory is employed to explore whether and how the proportion of tournament winners and tournament horizons influence employee effort (Knauer et al. 2017 ; Berger et al. 2018 ). Knauer et al. (2017) find positive effects of higher proportions of tournament winners on effort and suggest that psychological aspects have a decisive impact, as participants exert more effort not only to earn money but also to preserve a positive self-image. Berger et al. (2018) find that higher proportions of winners are more effective at sustaining effort in repeated tournaments and that longer tournament horizons result in better performance owing to more engagement in social comparison processes. The effect of the proportion of winners on tournament performance is also examined based on the theories of group identity and psychological costs (Kelly and Presslee 2017 ). Other researchers investigate the effects of reward types in tournaments based on mental accounting theory (Kelly et al. 2017 ). Two studies integrate social comparison theory and goal-setting theory (Hannan et al. 2008 ; Newman and Tafkov 2014 ). Hannan et al. (2008) research the combination of tournament incentive schemes and RPI provision. Their laboratory experiment is designed to examine the effects of the presence and content of RPI and compensation based on a tournament or individual incentive scheme on individual performance. They find that RPI provision has opposite effects under the two incentive schemes. RPI provision increases performance under an individual incentive scheme but decreases performance under a tournament incentive scheme (Hannan et al. 2008 ). Newman and Tafkov (2014) extend Hannan et al.’s (2008) findings by examining whether the tournament’s prize structure has an influence on the identified performance effect. The provision of RPI has a detrimental effect on performance in reward tournaments, but it has a positive effect on performance when the tournament’s prize structure is based on rewards and punishments (Newman and Tafkov 2014 ).

Incentive system design choices in teams We identify six studies on the effects of incentive system design choices on behavior in teams. Table 15 presents an overview. Our analysis reveals that this subtopic is predominantly investigated using social psychology.

We find that social identity theory is employed particularly frequently (e.g., Towry 2003 ; Sedatole et al. 2016 ; Tian et al. 2016 ). Social identity theory considers the psychological processes behind an individual’s identification with a team, intergroup relations, and team identity (Tajfel and Turner 1986 ; Towry 2003 ). Towry (2003) examines the differences between mutual monitoring in vertical and horizontal incentive systems and their influence on effort. She finds that the effectiveness of such systems depends on team identity. Her findings indicate that a strong team identity is associated with greater coordination among members. A horizontal incentive scheme, in which members directly control each other’s actions, is more effective for effort in this context (Towry 2003 ).

Sedatole et al.’s ( 2016 ) study considers a similar setting and provides additional information on horizontal monitoring. Their findings suggest that horizontal monitoring and team member dependence provide strong enough implicit incentives to motivate individual performance to reduce free-riding without the implementation of team rewards (Sedatole et al. 2016 ). Similar studies based on social identity theory suggest that team incentives have a greater positive effect on effort than individual incentives have when the potential conflict level in a group is high (Tian et al. 2016 ). Other studies indicate that personality and cognitive aspects should not be neglected. Upton (2009) draws upon the personality concept of social value orientation, that is, the extent to which an individual is concerned about how his or her actions influence the outcomes of independent others. According to these findings, an individual’s social value orientation affects group performance.

Additionally, group performance is affected by a team’s predominant cognitive orientation (Naranjo-Gil et al. 2012 ).

Effects of incentive system design choices on misreporting, honesty, and whistleblowing Studies also consider the psychological aspects of honesty, misreporting, and whistleblowing in incentive system design. As our analysis reveals, this subtopic is primarily based on the concept of social norms (e.g., Chen and Sandino 2012 ; Maas and van Rinsum 2013 ; Cardinaels and Yin 2015 ; Chen et al. 2017 ). Table 16 provides information on the articles about this subtopic.

Social norms represent behavioral regularities that are based on shared beliefs regarding appropriate behavior. The violation of such social norms can lead to social sanctions or psychological discomfort (Fehr and Gächter 2000 ; Chen and Sandino 2012 ). Social norms are used to investigate the effects of compensation levels on employee theft (Chen and Sandino 2012 ) or the design of incentive systems to encourage internal whistleblowing (Chen et al. 2017 ), among other topics. Maas and van Rinsum ( 2013 ) set up a laboratory experiment in a setting in which managers receive monetary benefits from overstating their performance. They provide evidence that managers experience disutility if their misreporting violates social norms or results in unfair outcomes for their peers. Furthermore, managers’ misreporting is influenced by whether it decreases or increases their peers’ gains and whether their performance reports are made public (Maas and van Rinsum 2013 ). Further research indicates that misreporting increases when the choices of compensation contracts suggest that behaving dishonestly is a social norm (Cardinaels and Yin 2015 ). Other studies suggest that personality aspects also affect misreporting (e.g., Chong and Wang 2019 ; Nichol 2019 ). Nichol (2019) investigates the effects of incentive contract framing on misreporting and the personality trait of psychological entitlement. Psychological entitlement can be seen as believing that one has a right to receive something (Major 1995 ; Nichol 2019 ). Nichol’s (2019) results suggest that misreporting is higher under a penalty contract and occurs owing to a feeling of entitlement to monetary payoffs.

4.2.3 Budgeting

Budgeting and the use of budgets Five articles in our dataset consider budgeting and the use of budgets, and three of them address the effects of participation in the budgeting process. All five articles are presented in Table 17 . Social psychology is the predominant subfield, but no one theory or concept predominates. Studies of the benefits of participating in the budgeting process (e.g., Wong-On-Wing et al. 2010 ; Venkatesh and Blaskovich 2012 ) also rely on motivation and positive psychology. Footnote 16

Wong-On-Wing et al.’s (2010) study employs self-determination theory in a participative budgeting setting. Their findings are similar to those of studies of participation in PMS design (e.g., Groen et al. 2017 ). Wong-On-Wing et al. (2010) provide evidence that intrinsic and autonomous extrinsic motivations for participative budgeting positively influence individual performance. They also suggest that controlled extrinsic motivation is negatively associated with individual performance.

Venkatesh and Blaskovich (2012) study participation in the budgeting process from a different perspective. Their survey focuses on the relation between participation, psychological capital, and individual performance. Psychological capital thereby represents a positive stage of psychological development that can be characterized by an individual’s levels of hope, efficacy, optimism, and resiliency. They provide evidence that participation positively affects psychological capital, which, in turn, positively affects individual performance (Venkatesh and Blaskovich 2012 ). Other psychology-based studies suggest that budgets have positive effects on job experience (Marginson and Ogden 2005 ) or team effectiveness (Chong and Mahama 2014 ).

Budgetary slack and honesty The twelve articles presented in Table 18 address the phenomena of budgetary slack or honesty. Most articles on these subtopics investigate participative budgeting settings and were published after 2010; three were published as recently as the first half of 2019. We find a strong focus on social psychology and the concept of social norms therein (e.g., Fisher et al. 2000 ; Stevens 2002 ; Brown et al. 2017 ; Blay et al. 2019 ).

Social norms are used to provide evidence that the aspects of the participative budgeting process (Fisher et al. 2000 ), reputation and feelings of ethical responsibility (Stevens 2002 ), preferences for honesty (Blay et al. 2019 ) and the choice of who sets the budget (Brown et al. 2017 ) reduce slack or positively influence performance.

Additionally, honesty is examined based on a variety of theories and concepts (e.g., Church et al. 2012 ; Brown et al. 2014 ; Church et al. 2019 ). These findings suggest that factors such as managers’ profits from dishonesty (Church et al. 2019 ) and the provision of rankings (Brown et al. 2014 ) affect the creation of slack.

Interestingly, personality aspects are addressed rather frequently in these studies (e.g., Hartmann and Maas 2010 ; Hobson et al. 2011 ; Davidson 2019 ). Hartmann and Maas (2010) also consider social pressure and Machiavellianism in the examination of slack. Machiavellianism refers to an individual’s tendency to act based on self-profit and refrain from ethical considerations (Schepers 2003 ; Hartmann and Maas 2010 ). Hartmann and Mass ( 2010 ) suggest that high levels of Machiavellianism may lead to a higher likelihood of giving into management pressure to create slack. Hobson et al. (2011) also investigate ethical considerations regarding slack in participative budgeting. Their findings indicate that personalities reflecting high levels of traditional values and empathy are more likely to consider slack unethical. However, although they find that participants judge slack to be unethical on average, they show that participants still create slack under a slack-inducing pay scheme, although they do not do so under a truth-inducing pay scheme (Hobson et al. 2011 ). Furthermore, evidence suggests that social-value orientation affects honesty. Davidson (2019) examines the influence of personality on managerial reporting behavior in the context of hiring choices and budget signing requirements. He distinguishes between two types of social value orientation and shows that these types also exhibit differences in honesty.

4.2.4 Organizational control

Use of formal and informal controls in organizational control systems The eight articles shown in Table 19 focus on the use of formal and informal controls in organizational control systems. Our analysis shows that social psychological theories and concepts (e.g., Coletti et al. 2005 ; Anderson et al. 2017 ) are predominantly employed by these studies.

Additionally, formal and informal controls are studied in terms of their potential effects on motivation and creativity (Christ et al. 2012 ; Grabner and Speckbacher 2016 ; Pfister and Lukka 2019 ). Regarding the use of social psychology, some researchers rely on social norms to provide evidence that formal controls influence people’s perceptions of appropriate behavior (Tayler and Bloomfield 2011 ). Other researchers show that the way that formal controls are imposed determines their effects on employee effort (Christ 2013 ). Moreover, research based on social psychology suggests that emotional signals, such as anger or satisfaction, affect accounting-based transfer pricing decisions (Bhattacharjee and Moreno 2017 ). Attribution theory is also used in the context of formal controls (e.g., Coletti et al. 2005 ; Anderson et al. 2017 ). According to attribution theory, individuals try to make causal attributions about other individuals’ behavior to eventually understand their motivations (Coletti et al. 2005 ; Anderson et al. 2017 ). Coletti et al. (2005) employ this theory in a setting with collaboration between divisions. They find that strong initially present formal control systems induce cooperation between divisions, thereby improve trust between collaborators. Interestingly, Anderson et al. (2017) provide evidence that initial trust decreases expenditures on formal controls and simultaneously increases investment in the cooperation in new interfirm relationships. Trust seems to help with causal attributions about behavior and, thus, helps to intensify cooperation.

Project controls, internal control systems, interfirm transactions, and revisions Table 20 provides information on articles that address organizational controls in terms of project controls, internal control systems, interfirm transactions, and system revisions. These subtopics are examined using cognitive and personality psychology and motivation theory. For instance, psychology-based research uses the cognitive concept of mental representation in a study of recommendations to continue a project (e.g., Kadous and Sedor 2003 ).

Birnberg and Zhang (2011) focus on the effects of economic conditions and psychological factors on a principal’s internal control system choices. They investigate the impact of betrayal aversion, a tendency to experience disutility from potentially being exploited by others, and the concept of loss aversion, taken from prospect theory. Their findings indicate that both factors influence decisions (Birnberg and Zhang 2011 ). Ylinen and Gullkvist ( 2012 ) adapt the personality concept of tolerance for ambiguity to examine the use of project controls. Their findings suggest that tolerance for ambiguity is an important factor in the use of project controls, as managers choose project controls based on their tolerance for ambiguity.

Additionally, the motivational goal priming theory is used to examine ways to motivate individual effort in management accounting system revisions (Thomas 2016 ).

4.2.5 Decision-making

Capital investment decisions The articles shown in Table 21 address capital investment decisions. All three experimental studies incorporate a form of affect, a concept derived from social psychology.

Kida et al. (2001) show that affective reactions (i.e., emotional reactions, such as anger) influence capital investment decisions. Furthermore, their findings indicate that managers tend to reject alternatives that elicit negative emotional reactions even if they have higher expected financial utility (Kida et al. 2001 ). Moreno et al. (2002) demonstrate similar behavioral responses in a subsequent field experiment. Building on prospect theory, they find that negative and positive affective reactions change risk-taking behavior. This behavior is expressed by managers’ tendency to choose decisions that elicit positive affect and, thus, exhibit greater risk-taking behavior. (Moreno et al. 2002 ). Additionally, negative affect should be considered in the context of difficult decisions, as it is associated with the tendency to avoid choices (Sawers 2005 ).

Decision - making quality Table 22 provides an overview of articles on decision-making quality and the use of psychological theories in studies of decision-making. Our analysis reveals a focus on cognitive psychology.

Chang et al. (2002) show that cognitive theories, such as prospect theory, fuzzy-trace theory, and probabilistic mental models, can be used to explain framing effects in a decision-making context. Although they posit that the fuzzy-trace theory best depicts the effects of framing on behavior in an accounting context (Chang et al. 2002 ), we do not identify other articles building on this theory. Recent articles build on mental models to find that causal linkages and time delay information in strategy maps affect decision-making quality and, thus, long-term profit performance (Humphreys et al. 2016 ). A similar study examines the effects of different forms of accountability and causal chain framing on information search processes and decision-making quality. Dalla Via et al.’s ( 2019 ) eye-tracking laboratory experiment reveals that, on the one hand, the provision of a causal chain is paramount to achieve high decision quality under outcome accountability. On the other hand, providing such a causal chain reduces information search effort and does not improve decision-making quality under process accountability (Dalla Via et al. 2019 ). Furthermore, studies examine the effects of personality traits on decision quality. Specifically, the Myers-Briggs type indicator is used to classify subjects according to their preferred cognitive styles (Cheng et al. 2003 ).

4.2.6 Strategic MAC

In total, we analyze six articles on strategic MAC. Three of them illuminate the relations between strategic performance measurement systems (SPMSs) and behavioral responses (i.e., commitment to goals, individual performance, or psychological factors, such as role stress). The other three investigate the evaluation of strategies using SPMS and managers’ use of strategic performance measures and their characteristics. Although SPMS seem to affect motivational factors, such as goal commitment (e.g., Webb 2004 ), we find a pronounced use of social and cognitive theories. Table 23 provides an overview of these articles.

The social concepts and theories used by these studies range from role theory (Burney and Widener 2007 ) to exchange theory (Burney and Widener 2013 ) and motivated reasoning (Tayler 2010 ). Tayler (2010) examines ways to mitigate motivated reasoning, that is, a manager’s preference for arriving at a certain conclusion. He finds that a combination of involving managers in the selection of BSC measures and simultaneously framing them as a causal chain can reduce motivated reasoning in strategy assessments (Tayler 2010 ). Two studies investigate the consequences of strategies that have been translated into performance measures. When managers are not fully aware that such measures only represent strategic constructs, they may treat representative measures as constructs of interest, a phenomenon explained by attribute substitution theory (Kahneman and Frederick 2008 ; Choi et al. 2012 ). Choi et al. ( 2012 , 2013 ) refer to this phenomenon as strategy surrogation. These studies show that compensating managers based on a single measure of a strategic construct increases the propensity to use that specific measure as a surrogate for the strategic construct and, thus, incur potential costs (Choi et al. 2012 ). However, involvement in strategy selection mitigates this strategy surrogation effect (Choi et al. 2013 ).

4.2.7 Costing systems

We identify four articles on costing system subtopics. These articles employ concepts from social, cognitive, and motivation psychology to examine either the use and usefulness of costing systems or the effects of participating in costing system design. Table 24 provides an overview.

For instance, cognitive psychology-based research provides evidence that cognitive adaptions to changes in costing methods are rather unusual for most individuals (Dearman and Shields 2005 ). Additionally, this research employs cognitive dissonance theory, which posits that individuals aim to ensure that their behavior is consistent with their attitudes towards certain events and therefore appears reasonable to themselves and others (Festinger 1957 ; Jermias 2001 ). Jermias (2001) provides evidence that commitment to a costing system influences the perceived usefulness of this system. Mahama and Cheng (2013) provide similar implications based on psychological empowerment and self-determination theory. They find that when managers perceive a costing system as more enabling, they use it more intensely. Complementing other research on participation (e.g., Wong-On-Wing et al. 2010 ; Groen et al. 2017 ), Hoozée and Ngo (2018) build on self-determination theory in the context of costing systems. Their findings indicate similar positive effects on autonomous motivation as well as effects on the perceived usefulness of cost information and the perceived contributions to process improvements.

4.2.8 Roles in management control systems

Four studies describe the consequences of role expectations within management control systems and, thus, predominantly rely on role theory. Table 25 provides additional information.

Role theory considers role expectations in organizations. It posits that central organizational roles are determined by the expectations of other members of the organization (Kahn et al. 1964 ; Byrne and Pierce 2007 ). These expectations can cause role ambiguity, role conflict, and role stress, which eventually affect performance negatively (Kahn et al. 1964 ; Marginson and Bui 2009 ).

Byrne and Pierce (2007) build on role theory and find that interactions between management accountants and operating managers may be subject to contingencies and conflicts. Furthermore, adopting a “business partner” role seems conditional and uncertain. Research based on this theory further suggests that the need to fulfill expectations for multiple roles may lead to higher levels of role conflict and role ambiguity for management accountants and other organizational members (Maas and Matějka 2009 ; Marginson and Bui 2009 ).

In addition to diverse role expectations, a management accountant’s occupational prestige may also determine specific conflicts between organizational and professional demands. Beyond role theory, Hiller et al. (2014) provide evidence that aspects of social identity may decrease conflict and turnover intentions.

5 Discussion and avenues for future research

Our findings indicate a great diversity regarding topics, psychological theories, and concepts employed. In the following, we discuss implications and avenues for future research. From the eight broader topics presented in this review, aspects of performance measurement and evaluation are examined most frequently. We find evidence that the use of psychological theories differs across performance measurement and evaluation subtopics. For instance, both subtopics subjectivity in performance evaluations and PMS design are strongly influenced by cognitive theories (e.g., Dai et al. 2018 ; Fehrenbacher et al. 2018 ; Bedford et al. 2019 ). Psychology-based research on the provision of RPI instead illuminates social aspects using social comparison theory (e.g., Hartmann and Schreck 2018 ) or incorporates negative personality aspects, such as the Dark Triad or negativity bias (e.g., Wang 2017 ; Kaplan et al. 2018a ). Other effects of evaluation processes and outcomes are addressed by considering personality traits, such as tolerance for ambiguity or psychological entitlement (e.g., Holderness et al. 2017 ), and social phenomena, such as affective reactions (e.g., Ding and Beaulieu 2011 ). Conversely, motivational aspects, specifically self-determination theory, are relevant when investigating the effects of participation in PMS design. Our findings indicate that more recent research may particularly shift its focus to cognitive and personality theories to illuminate phenomena that are not yet understood. Prior research has discovered many cognitive heuristics and biases, and their negative consequences. Future research could, therefore, address ways to mitigate the negative consequences of the design of PMS or evaluation processes, for example, to support the present heuristic reasoning in a positive way. Furthermore, researchers could incorporate positive psychological traits, such as empathy or humility, to illuminate their influences on evaluation decisions and outcomes.

Aspects of compensation, rewards, and incentives are second-most often examined. Overall, our analysis reveals a stronger emphasis on social aspects in this research stream, than, for example, in the performance measurement and evaluation stream. Specifically, social comparison theory (e.g., Hannan et al. 2008 ; Knauer et al. 2017 ), social norms (e.g., Maas and van Rinsum 2013 ; Chen et al. 2017 ) and social identity theory (e.g., Sedatole et al. 2016 ; Tian et al. 2016 ) are frequently drawn upon. However, researchers also selectively focus on cognitive theories, especially prospect theory and related concepts (e.g., Hirsch et al. 2017 ; Oblak et al. 2018 ), to investigate incentive contract design effects. In contrast, earlier research on the provision of feedback and rewards is described based on the motivational theory of self-determination (e.g., Drake et al. 2007 ; Stone et al. 2010 ; Kunz and Linder 2012 ). Although personality aspects were less frequently incorporated in this research in the past, they have been more frequently examined in recent years. Personality traits, such as the need for achievement or psychological entitlement (e.g., Fehrenbacher et al. 2017 ; Nichol 2019 ), may offer opportunities to explain behavioral patterns regarding compensation, rewards or incentives that are not yet understood, especially in contexts prone to misreporting and honesty issues. Further research may also benefit from incorporating personality aspects, e.g., psychological entitlement, in areas based mainly on social concepts, such as the effects of tournament incentive schemes. The reactions to tournaments and thereby induced pressure are likely to be contingent on an individual’s personality traits and coping mechanisms and, thus, are worth looking into.

Psychological theories are also employed in research concentrating on budgeting, organizational control matters, and decision-making processes. Many psychology-based budgeting studies were published very recently, indicating a recent interest in the psychological aspects of budgeting. Notably, participation is a particularly common research topic in this context. Prior research provides evidence that the psychological reactions induced by participation influence performance and reporting behavior (e.g., Brown et al. 2017 ; Blay et al. 2019 ) and should, therefore, be further investigated by future research. However, most research in this field deals with budgetary slack and honesty, two concepts that seem deeply interwoven with psychology. We find a strong focus on social psychology, and the concept of social norms therein, in both older and more recent budgeting research (e.g., Fisher et al. c 2000 ; Stevens 2002 ; Brown et al. 2017 ; Blay et al. 2019 ). Interestingly, personality aspects are addressed rather often with regard to slack creation and honesty issues (e.g., Hartmann and Maas 2010 ; Hobson et al. 2011 ; Davidson 2019 ). An essential difference from the performance measurement and evaluation literature, which also shows tendencies towards personality psychology, is the consideration of more positive character traits. Interestingly, very few studies in this area draw upon cognitive or motivation psychology. However, we assume that future budgeting research could benefit from the stronger incorporation of theories of heuristics, framing, or motivation, as they may also prove to be relevant for explaining negative behavior (e.g., slack creation or misreporting) and its potential mitigation.

Further, our analysis indicates that although social psychological theories and concepts have a stronger influence on organizational control research, this area also incorporates several motivation theories. This research stream most frequently employs the social concepts of social norms and attribution theory, motivational aspects used include intrinsic motivation and self-determination constructs. Cognitive psychology is only drawn on in organizational control studies published before 2012, and tolerance for ambiguity is the only personality trait incorporated in research on this topic. These findings suggest avenues for future research. Although there is a strong focus on social psychology, some areas may additionally benefit from the incorporation of social aspects. Particularly in the context of project controls and interfirm transactions, individuals’ social and personal behavior significantly influences their judgments and, thus, their outcomes. Nevertheless, we did not identify any research that addresses social aspects in this field. Thus, researchers could draw on concepts from, e.g., social identity theory or even role theory, to examine potential dysfunctional behaviors or coordination difficulties between project or transaction parties. Interestingly, research on formal and informal organizational controls does not incorporate cognitive psychology. However, cognitive theories and concepts, such as prospect theory, may provide additional explanations for individual behavior when formal or informal controls are present. Organizational control research also may benefit from determining the influences of a more diverse set of personality traits on behavior. For example, researchers could investigate how a set of traits like, e.g., honesty, agreeableness and conscientiousness, affect transactions or the use of and reaction to informal and formal controls.

Regarding decision-making research, our findings indicate a focus on cognitive psychology and affective reactions. Similar to other subtopics (e.g., performance measurement and evaluation), researchers examine rather negative implications of affect. Future research could, therefore, examine the effects of positive affective reactions in this context and ways to elicit and use them for the benefit of organizations. More recent research incorporates new experimental methods, such as eye-tracking, to examine decision quality. Future research in this field could also combine cognitive and social or personality psychology to identify the effects of character traits (e.g., social value orientation) or existing social norms on decision quality.

Our analysis also reveals implications for psychology-based strategic MAC and costing system research. For instance, we did not identify psychology-based strategic MAC articles published after 2013. Although researchers have shown that psychological aspects are in fact influential, this outcome may suggest that interest in psychological explanations has decreased in this field. We find that psychology-based SPMS research relies mainly on social concepts, followed by cognitive and motivation theories. Interestingly, we do not identify studies that incorporate personality aspects into their examinations of the effects of SPMS even though these aspects have been proven to impact behavior in the context of other MAC subtopics. Thus, future research regarding strategic MAC could investigate how, for example, the commitment to strategic goals or the effectiveness of the translation of strategy into performance measures is contingent on personality traits like, e.g., the dark triad or one’s social value orientation.

The small number of analyzed costing system articles provide evidence that social, cognitive, and motivational factors influence perceptions of usefulness and the use of cost information. Further, studies that show the effects of participation in the design process seem to be affected by motivational aspects. However, based on other articles in this review, participation elicits social phenomena as well. Thus, future costing system research may benefit from considering the effects of, e.g., existing social norms. Additionally, researchers could examine potential effects of phenomena like cognitive dissonance, which may be evoked by contradictory beliefs or ideas and actual presented costing information and costing system design. Further, future research could examine whether and how the perceived usefulness and the use of cost information may also be affected by personal characteristics, e.g., one’s tolerance for ambiguity.

Besides the aforementioned, researchers use psychology to shed light on the roles of actors in management control systems. We find that psychology-based investigations of role expectations seemingly prompt the use of role theory. However, individuals’ methods of coping with expectations and their behavior under stress and ambiguous expectations may also be determined by other factors. We, therefore, believe that the role perceptions of individuals in control systems may relate to positive and negative personality traits, e.g., the dark triad or social value orientation. Furthermore, an individual’s cognitive orientation or perceptions of accountability may impact the fulfillment of these roles.

Overall, our results confirm the developments indicated by previous studies (e.g., Hesford et al. 2007 ; Hopper and Bui 2016 ; Lachmann et al. 2017 ): The quantity and proportion of psychology-based MAC research both increased over the investigation period, especially between 2015 and the first half of 2019. Further, we find that the variety of psychology subfields used by MAC studies increases over the investigation period and that this diversity is especially high between 2015 and the first half of 2019. Both findings indicate a growing interest in employing psychological theories and concepts to foster a better understanding of the consequences and effects of MAC practices on behavior. We show that social psychology is the most frequently utilized subfield. We believe this is the case because the research that we examined in this review investigates contexts in which social interactions between individuals are mandatory (e.g., performance evaluations or participative budgeting). Thus, focusing on and observing social psychological phenomena, such as affective reactions or social comparison processes, offers additional valuable explanations for behavior that may contradict the predictions of traditional economic theory in some cases. Interestingly, many studies rely on more than one psychology subfield to derive theoretical foundations. One possible explanation for this finding may be that psychological processes are so complex that multiple psychological theories are necessary to capture, predict, and examine the effects of specific behavioral phenomena and their facets.

Some psychological theories and concepts within the respective subfields have been employed by researchers more frequently than others have. For example, articles drawing on social psychology build theoretical foundations on social comparison theory (e.g., Hannan et al. 2013 ; Tafkov 2013 ; Knauer et al. 2017 ) or social norms (e.g., Fisher et al. 2000 ; Maas and van Rinsum 2013 ; Blay et al. 2019 ). Prospect theory (e.g., Church et al. 2008 ; Oblak et al. 2018 ) and mental models (e.g., Kadous and Sedor 2003 ; Hall 2011 ) are among the most frequently employed concepts from cognitive psychology. When examining motivational issues, articles most often build on self-determination theory (e.g., Kunz and Linder 2012 ; Groen et al. 2017 ), followed by concepts of intrinsic motivation (e.g., Wong-On-Wing et al. 2010 ; Christ et al. 2012 ). We find that personality psychology seems to be of growing interest to researchers. Interestingly, personality psychology is not addressed by previous literature studies (e.g., Birnberg et al. 2007 ). We identified a rather diverse set of concepts from personality psychology. The concepts of tolerance for ambiguity (e.g., Hartmann and Slapničar 2012 ) and psychological entitlement (e.g., Nichol 2019 ) are both employed by several studies. However, according to our analysis, the use of personality psychology, even in combination with other subfields, is restricted to certain MAC topics and subtopics. For example, we do not identify articles employing personality concepts to examine strategic MAC aspects, costing systems, or roles in management control systems.

Regarding research methods, many studies use laboratory experiments. The external validity of such experiments is often questioned owing to concerns regarding the representativeness and generalizability of their results (Sprinkle 2003 ). Interestingly, we identified very few field experiments, which offer higher generalizability and, thus, higher external validity (Harrison and List 2004 ). Psychology-based MAC research can, therefore, benefit from researchers venturing into the field. Field experiments can provide additional knowledge and verify existing knowledge under more natural conditions but offer the additional benefits of experimental manipulations ( 2004 ; Floyd and List 2016 ).

Within the MAC topics discussed above, we identified several subtopics that are of greater interest based on the number of articles addressing them. Specifically, subjective performance evaluations and subjective measures (e.g., Kunz 2015 ; Bol and Leiby 2018 ), incentive contract framing and compensation contract selection (e.g., Tafkov 2013 ; Reichert and Woods 2017 ), and budgetary slack and honesty in budgeting (e.g., Brown et al. 2014 ; Blay et al. 2019 ) are very frequently investigated using psychology-based theories. The outcomes and consequences of these studies are deeply influenced by individual judgments and behaviors and, thus, benefit from the incorporation of theories that offer additional explanations beyond pure economic reasoning. Beyond that, our analysis shows an increase in publications in specific topic categories in recent years. This may be explained by the general increase in the number and share of psychology-based MAC research articles; however, it may also indicate a growing interest in some specific subtopics. The increase is especially pronounced for research on budgetary slack and honesty. Six of the twelve articles on these subtopics were published in or after 2015, and three were even published in the first half of 2019. Further, more than half of all articles included in our review with a background of personality psychology were published between 2016 and 2019. We first identified personality concepts in articles published in 2003 (Cheng et al. 2003 ). The newer articles focus on a variety of personality aspects, such as psychological entitlement (Holderness et al. 2017 ; Nichol 2019 ), social value orientation (Davidson 2019 ), and responsibility rationalization (Chong and Wang 2019 ). Although personality traits and their effects on actions do not play a significant role in the economic theory underlying MAC, considering these factors offer an opportunity to provide further insight into the potential effects and influences of MAC practices. The insights of this review into recent MAC research imply that researchers have only begun to incorporate personality aspects, and this incorporation may be accelerating. Conversely, some subtopics have not received much attention in recent years. For instance, the most recent article in the strategic MAC category was published in 2013. Researchers can, therefore, address these thematic fields using new technologies, tested theories, and more recent knowledge to answer unanswered research questions.

Interestingly, there is an overarching theme that evoked psychology-based research across multiple categories. Specifically, we found seventeen articles on participation in different contexts. For instance, we identified articles on participation in PMS design, budget setting, costing system design, and strategic MAC. Interestingly, the concept of participation is already examined by the seminal work of Argyris (1952) . Articles on participation incorporate social psychological and motivation theories with almost equal frequency. This offers the opportunity to benefit from already existing psychology-based knowledge. For example, future research on the effects of participation in MAC contexts may use already tested theories and recent knowledge from one setting to find explanations for research questions in other participation-based research settings. Specifically, researchers could, e.g., benefit from the knowledge that participation affects factors like goal commitment and individual performance, and derive research questions regarding the effects of participation in costing system design and use. Further, even though we did not find any personality psychology-based participation research, we believe that such research in PMS design, or costing system design could lead to a better understanding of why such systems may or may not work in practice.

In summary, psychology-based MAC research is diverse regarding its topics, and psychological theories and concepts employed. Based on our review, there are several potentially fruitful avenues for future research in the eight topic categories discussed. Particularly, personality characteristics are likely to influence many MAC-related aspects, but their effects are yet to be examined. Beyond personality characteristics, there are many more already tested psychological theories and concepts from related fields, that could prove relevant to MAC research. For instance, the concept of accountability, which is examined in, e.g., auditing research or organizational sciences, could also be applied in MAC research. Despite the known influences of accountability in these fields, little MAC research (e.g., Fehrenbacher et al. 2020 ) has asked and answered accountability related questions. Nevertheless, although there is a seemingly endless variety in promising psychological theories or concepts to draw from, MAC researchers should exercise caution in picking theories and concepts that are reasonably applicable in the MAC context. Therefore, we believe psychology-based MAC research would especially benefit from interdisciplinary exchange, interdisciplinary research teams, and potentially even interdisciplinary education in university courses, in order to continue to deepen our understanding of the effects of MAC practices on behavior.

6 Conclusion

We conclude by reflecting on the contributions and limitations of our systematic literature review. Our work investigates the main foci of and developments in recent psychology-based MAC research. We shed light on which MAC topics are investigated, which research methods are applied in these investigations, and which theories and concepts are used to generate knowledge on the effects of MAC practices from a psychological perspective. We achieved this through a structured material collection and a subsequent in-depth content analysis of relevant articles published between 2000 and 2019. We thereby identified 125 relevant articles out of a total of 5247 articles from nine leading accounting journals. In our subsequent content analysis, we focused on determining the theoretical perspectives, research methods, and main findings of each included article. Additionally, all 125 articles were categorized in terms of MAC topics, research methods, and psychology subfields, and we discussed possible implications of the recent developments. Thereby, our overview offers a variety of insights into the use of psychology in recent MAC research to further develop the current understanding of the effects of MAC practices. We complement and extend existing discussions of psychology-based studies (e.g., Birnberg et al. 2007 ; Luft and Shields 2009 ; Kaplan et al. 2018b ) by including articles that draw upon theories and concepts from four bigger subfields of psychology. Therefore, we discuss articles employing theories or concepts from the previously examined subfields of social psychology, cognitive psychology and motivation theory. In addition, we significantly extend the scope of prior studies by including articles that draw upon personality psychology, multiple subfields, and several smaller subfields. To our knowledge, this review is the first to systematically collect, analyze, and synthesize such a broad spectrum of psychology-based research from the selected journals to illuminate the characteristics and knowledge generation of this research stream during this time period. Further, we draw a picture of an evolving research landscape, with several future research opportunities, as well as emerging new facets, e.g., the growing influence of personality psychology or participation in various MAC contexts. Moreover, by synthesizing and contextualizing 125 articles, we show that there are specific domains, where reactions to implemented MAC practices are significantly affected by psychological aspects. Among others, reactions to, e.g., PME systems, compensation, rewards or incentives benefit from psychology-based explanations of behavioral patterns. For instance, following basic economic theory, incentivizing should motivate favorable behavior; however, there may be, e.g., social aspects like existing social norms, that reinforce or aggravate the assumed behavioral reactions. Thus, our findings advocate the consideration of such aspects and may provide food for thought for practitioners, and the design and implementation of MAC practices beyond common economics-based recommendations.

Nevertheless, we recognize that our systematic review is subject to some limitations. The selection criteria and the selection process itself are designed to include only a fraction of recent MAC research. Especially owing to the restrictions on journals and the publication period, potentially relevant articles that do not meet the proposed criteria are excluded a priori. Moreover, the journal selection, which is based on leading accounting journals and prior research (e.g., Hesford et al. 2007 ; Lachmann et al. 2017 ), is not exhaustive and may be adjusted by future reviews. The article selection was conducted using the best of our knowledge, but it nevertheless relies on our subjective judgments of inclusion eligibility. Furthermore, our analysis relies on the simultaneous investigation of MAC topics, psychological concepts, and the research methods employed, which generates a comprehensive overview of the trends and main themes in this stream of research but may also hinder more detailed investigations of specific topics or concepts. Future research may complement our work with more specific reviews, potentially focusing, for instance, on experimental studies employing social or cognitive concepts.

Regardless of these limitations, we believe that our review is a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners seeking an overview of the knowledge in the MAC field that has been generated by drawing on different subfields of psychology. By offering insights into this stream of MAC research, this review may encourage researchers to investigate future developments in this field or even to conduct psychology-based MAC research themselves.

A subdiscipline of MAC, referred to as behavioral management accounting, is substantially influenced by sociological perspectives and psychology (e.g., Hofstedt and Kinard 1970 ; Dunk 2001 ; Birnberg 2011 ; Hopper and Bui 2016 ; Charifzadeh and Taschner 2017 ). It addresses such topics as the (unintended) effects of incentives, selected goals, and targets or appropriate design parameters of control systems in organizations (Charifzadeh and Taschner 2017 ). However, this review is not limited to research that refers to itself as behavioral management accounting but rather focuses on developing a holistic picture of any MAC research with a psychology background.

In some cases, our assignment of psychological theories to specific subfields may differ from prior studies (e.g., Birnberg et al. 2007 ). However, these assignments do not contradict the prior literature, as they are determined by consulting the psychology literature (e.g., Kanfer 1990 ; Westen 2002 ; Taylor et al. 2006 ; Eysenck and Keane 2010 ; Cervone and Pervin 2013 ) and represent another perspective on subfields that are not mutually exclusive.

In the 1920 s and early 1930 s, human relations was a research approach focusing on investigating morale, motivation, productivity, job satisfaction and group processes, and leadership or power in organizations ( Birnberg et al. 2007 ).

All selected journals are ranked with a status ranging from A + to B according to the VHB-JOURQUAL 3 of the German Academic Association for Business Research (Verband der Hochschullehrer für Betriebswirtschaft e.V . 2015 ) and have high impact factors according to several international journal rankings.

Empirical research methods are assumed to offer instruments of choice to acquire an in-depth understanding of decision-influencing and decision-facilitating effects on people (Sprinkle 2003 ), which, in turn, may be associated with the employment of concepts from subfields of psychology.

Simply stating that the research draws on psychology, without naming a specific theory or related construct, does not qualify an article for final inclusion.

Four concepts that are recurrently used in the MAC literature are excluded from this review: trust, justice, honesty, and fairness. These specific concepts may be applied in several ways and with various underlying assumptions from a number of different theoretical perspectives. These concepts may be used within subfields of psychology, but they may also be employed for research that does not refer to itself as related to psychology. However, if these constructs are used along with or in addition to concepts from psychology subfields (e.g., as additional variables in an experimental setting) the article is eligible for final inclusion (e.g., Hartmann and Slapničar 2009 ; Brown et al. 2016 ).

Laboratory experiments are conducted under standardized conditions in a laboratory with a standard subject pool (i.e., students). Harrison and List (2004) identify six factors that can be used to distinguish between laboratory and field experiments: the subject pool, the information the subjects bring to the experimental task, the nature of the commodity, the nature of the experimental task, the nature of the stakes, and the nature of the experimental environment (Floyd and List 2016 ). We follow the classification scheme of Harrison and List (2004) and the remarks of Floyd and List (2016) and refer to experiments with, for example, managers in an organization as field experiments for this review. Online experiments with standard or not further classified subject pools are categorized as laboratory experiments. The term “field study” is not the same as field experiments. We use “field studies” to refer to investigations of more than one organization employing such techniques as interviews, observations, and internal documents (Birnberg and Shields 1990 ; Hesford et al. 2007 ; Lachmann et al. 2017 ).

The time-based regression analysis uses the year as the independent variable and the number of identified articles in a year as the dependent variable ( Scandura and Williams 2000 ).

These results are not tabulated. This and the following untabulated results are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

These results are not tabulated.

The maximum value of the heterogeneity index in this case is 0.8 ( h max = 1- 1/n). The heterogeneity indices regarding the application of psychology subfields for the remaining categories are calculated as follows: strategic MAC ( h = 0.722); compensation, rewards, and incentives ( h = 0.722); organizational control ( h = 0.681); decision-making ( h = 0.653); and budgeting ( h = 0.616).

The maximum value of the heterogeneity index in this case is 0.8. .

Essentially, positive psychology focuses on subjective experiences, such as well-being or hope; positive individual traits, such as courage or forgiveness; and moving individuals towards better citizenship ( Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi 2000 ).

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100 original accounting research topics.

October 29, 2020

The recommended process for coming up with a research topic in any field is straightforward. 1) You should brainstorm several ideas; 2) You should choose a topic that interests you; 3) You should choose a topic that is original, and 4) You should choose a topic you know you can research and write about given any surrounding constraints. It sounds easy enough but unsurprisingly most students around the world struggle to come up with just the right topic to do their research project on.

Choosing best accounting research topics

This list of 100 accounting research topics is a great starting point. Not only is the list curated by our leading academic experts , but it also represents the latest accounting topics in the field. Have a look at our selection and see if you feel inspired to come up with some ideas of your own, or simply select a handful of accounting research topics to help you narrow down your search for the perfect project.

Simple Accounting Research Topics

How do financial balance sheets help keep accounts in good standing?
Are the current standards of accounting ideal for today’s world?
What is the value of live information to accountants?
Why do companies have such a need for up-to-date accounting software?
What are the biggest dilemmas in the ethics of accounting?

Great Topics for Accounting Research Papers

What are some of the reasons accountants lie in their books?
What are the greatest risks that come with software design?
Why should financial reporting have government regulations?
What is the most effective method to update accounting systems?
What were the reasons that Goldman Sachs was accused of fraud?

Current Accounting Topics for High School

Is it better to conduct manual accounting or computerized accounting?
As technology evolves should companies make accounting changes?
What are the risks one takes in using online accounting?
Is internet-based accounting software safe for businesses?
How has offshore gambling changed how we look at accounting?

Hot Topics in Accounting for High School

Should companies keep their methods of accounting a secret?
What are the latest developments in software companies should look for?
How does modern technology help or harm accounting?
What are the biggest ethical questions in regards to accounting?
How did best practices for accounting develop over time?

Controversial Accounting Topics for Every Level

How can large corporations reduce the amount of taxes they pay?
What are some of the ways companies avoid financial fraud?
Is offshore accounting safe for small businesses with limited budgets?
What are the current accounting best practices for small businesses?
How can small businesses minimize taxes legally through accounting?

Simple Accounting Research Topics for Intro Courses

Can the right type of software help a business cut costs?
Is having an accounting department only needed for big companies?
What advances in accounting software are the most impactful?
What are the historical prospects that created today’s accounting practices?
What are the accounting principles of managing long-term debt?

Advanced Accounting Topics for College Students

Is it important to report finances to gain the confidence of customers?
What are some of the things companies can do to make their accounts transparent?
What are the differences between European and Islamic banking practices?
Why is it necessary to use on-site training to learn accounting software?
What are the best accounting systems available today?

Managerial Accounting Topics for Research Paper

Would financial statements look the same without accounting standards?
What are some of the most popular perspectives of management earnings?
How do international markets affect managerial accounting?
What are the most important concepts of earnings management?
What risks do advanced technologies mean for the field of accounting?

Ph.D. Research Topics in Accounting and Auditing

How do long-term debts affect small businesses?
What are some of the easiest ways for accounts to rise in their companies?
What are the risks of collusion between accounting and an auditor?
What are the best finance practices for entrepreneurial internet businesses?
When is the right time for people to hire personal financial experts?

Ph.D. Research Topics in Accounting

How can accounting software be used to improve a small business’s productivity?
How are small businesses able to compete financially with large businesses?
What is the major problem with applying theory to practical accounting?
What are the best ways of ensuring accounting decisions are sound decisions?
In what ways can businesses avoid growing debt over the years?

Accounting Research Paper Topics Ideas

In what ways is financial accounting changing as new technologies arise?
In what ways does culture affect theories in accounting?
What does one have to do to become a certified accountant?
What were the causes of the 2008 global financial crisis?
How does one figure out the estimated tax on company earnings?

Accounting Thesis Topics for Graduate Students

What are the negatives of a growing number of accounting graduates around the world?
What influences do large corporations have on accounting theories?
What are the best training programs for accounting at the corporate level?
How safe is mobile accounting technology for personal use?
What kind of restraints does developing economies have on capital budgeting?

Great Accounting Presentation Topics

What are the major causes of financial instability among big businesses?
What are the biggest problems with normative theories in accounting?
What are the most significant changes in accounting practices in the last 20 years?
What does the trend of analyzing text in financial statements mean for reporting?
What is the relationship between CEO qualities and a company’s stock performance?

Forensic Accounting Research Topics

Can forensic accounting help reduce risks to small businesses?
What is the main role of a forensic accountant?
How is forensic accounting making the auditing process easier?
What are the essential skills that are necessary to enter forensic accounting?
How do forensic accountants conduct their investigations?

Managerial Accounting Topics for Grad Students

What are the fundamental differences between management accounting and financial accounting?
To what extent should managers play a role in account auditing?
How have new taxation policies affected managerial accounting?
Why is the quality of human resource management so important in auditing firms?
How does double-entry accounting affect the way managers lead organizations?

Simple Accounting Research Topics for a Short Project

In what ways has Covid-19 impacted the health sector in the U.S.?
What is meant by the term “asset-liability management”?
How is the retail sector affected by specialist accounting?
What is the importance of audits for non-profit organizations?
How can small businesses utilize specialized accountants to keep finance on track?

Accounting Topics for Research Paper in College

What factors should you consider if you intend to invest in financial markets?
What tax reform initiatives would help small businesses in the U.S.?
How is the rapid flow of data important for modern accountants?
How much do fraud cases rely on financial ratios?
How can financial ratios be used to foresee the likelihood of bankruptcy?

Great Accounting Topics for Research Papers

How is traditional auditing different from risk-based auditing?
How do fair value measurements present challenges to external audits?
Can high school courses in accounting lead to better financial management for young adults?
Will electronic bookkeeping make accountants irrelevant?
How do small retail businesses in the US maintain their accounts?

Accounting Topics for Research Term Papers

In what ways are financial disclosures in online finance programs putting users at risk?
What are the biggest limitations of finding a reliable accounting system for online sales?
What is the best method for monitoring liquid assets?
What are the major factors that go into a valuation for mergers and acquisitions?
What are the most sophisticated aspects of traditional accounting?

What did you think of our accounting research paper topics? We know it can be time-consuming and difficult to brainstorm your ideas, so we encourage you to choose a topic from the list above or check out our business research topics . If you have an assignment that requires you to write on something specific, then we can create a custom list of 5 or 10 ideas in a matter of hours. You know longer have to fret about coming up with the perfect financial accounting topics. Just contact us anytime and we will put you in touch with an academic expert who can create a list for you or help you with other parts of the assignment writing process.

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Top 200+ Accounting Research Topics For Students In 2024

“Research is a formalized interest. It is prying and poking with a goal.” — Zora Neale Hurston.

Is finding out the accounting research topics a tricky task for you? How do you get rid of your accounting assignments? This blog has discussed various accounting research topics that will make your work very straightforward.

Before finding out about the research paper, first, you must know some of the essential things to keep in mind. The following vital things to remember are brainstorming unique ideas, the need for the best topic, collecting enough content, etc.

For various students, figuring out a research topic that suits the account can get hard, particularly in commerce subjects. To help you overwhelm this load, here is a list of 100+ accounting research paper ideas you can use to get started or draw motivation.

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Accounting- A Technical Subject

Table of Contents

Accounting is a technical subject because it involves financial duties and completing accounting duties that need more cutting-edge technical knowledge and skills. As a technical subject, researching accounting topics can be more challenging.

Also, it becomes crucial to take care of every minute detail and complete the research paper should be backed up with validated facts and instances. If you would like to maintain the quality of the accounting research technical topic, you need to perform properly thorough research.

To make the overall accounting research process easy, we have to give students some of the best accounting research topics list. It can make your work right. You can enhance one of the accounting topics to suit your requirements

There are a lot of Phenomenal Ideas Of Research Topics For College Students . You can use these ideas for completing your overall task.

What Are The Accounting Research Topics?

Accounting is one of the best and most interesting subjects. It deals with the systematic way of managing and recording financial accounts pertinent to the business. Generally, the common accounting method contains reporting, analyzing, and summarizing.

A good topic is most required for accomplishing the task of writing an accounting research paper. Whereas selecting the research paper topic is one of the most tricky tasks. But choosing the research topic takes too much time and effort.

How To Pick The Best Accounting Research Topics

Choosing the right topic is super important when it comes to doing accounting research. Whether you’re doing it yourself or getting help from a writing service , picking the right topic is key.

Picking a topic helps you figure out what you want to talk about and where your research will go. It guides your journey. Here are some tips to help you pick the best topic:

1. Get Enough Info: Make sure you know enough about the topic before you choose it. Picking a topic without knowing much can mess up your whole paper. You might end up with something too big or off-track. Knowing about the topic also helps you stay interested.

2. Pick Something You Like: It’s easier to work on something you’re interested in. Even though research can be tiring, liking your topic can keep you going. Accounting research papers can be long and tough, so it helps if you enjoy the topic. Plus, it’s easier to explain something you understand and care about.

3. Decide How Long: Figure out how long your paper should be before you start looking for a topic. This helps you pick a topic that’s not too big or too small. Knowing your paper’s length helps you stay focused.

4. Cover Your Topic Well: Some accounting topics can be endless if you don’t set limits. Choose a topic you can cover well within your paper’s length. Don’t start if you can’t finish it in time. If you have to, pick a smaller part of the topic and focus on that instead.

Figure out the complete list of accounting research topics below.

Accounting Theory Research Topics

Ultimate financial accounting topics, managerial accounting research topics, tax accounting research topics.

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Research Topics on Accounting Thesis

Fund accounting research topics, auditing research topics.

Bookkeeping Dissertation Topics
Accounting Project Ideas
Unique Accounting Research Topics
Popular Accounting Research Paper Topics

Excellent Topics for Accounting Research Papers

Advanced Accounting Research Topics
Latest Accounting Research Topics
Easy Accounting Research Topics
Amazing Accounting Research Topics

These are the following accounting research topics for accounting theory, and it is such as;

Effect of state-of-the-art technologies on the accounting sector.
Application of accounting software.
Current expansions in accounting software.
The trouble of accounting standards.
The best accounting research topic includes all the historical options for unique accounting interventions.
Moreover, another topic for research is the significance of instant information for current-day accounts.
What is the most productive accounting software for accountants?
Mentoring schedules for corporate accounting.
Cons discovered in accounting.
Effect of culture on accounting thesis?
Mobile accounting.
The vital steps to make an organization’s finance transparent is also the best research topic of accounting.
Various steps to becoming a qualified accountant are among the best research topics.
Accounting practices- critical analysis is best for accounting research.
Global financial crisis 2008- Reasons and effects are best for accounting research.

Here are the ultimate topics for accounting research are given below.

Why is the assessment of the financial balance sheets crucial in making business decisions?
Auditor’s job with the customers and third parties.
Market research and viewpoints of Cryptocurrencies.
Due returns in finance and accounting.
Corporate exposure and management.
The power of interest rates in accounting and finance.
The connection between earning management and discretionary accruals.
The result of digital currency on finance and accounting.
What are the determinants in the improvement of financial and accounting reporting?
Check the best techniques of cash flow notifying globally.
How does time impact the method of cash flow?
The standard challenges of financial accounting in the hotel industry are the best research topic.

Here are the ultimate topics for managerial accounting research are given below.

The distinction between financial accounting and managerial accounting.
What is the role of a manager in account auditing?
Effect of new taxation systems on managerial accounting.
Effect of quality HRM ( Human Resource Management ) on auditing organizations.
Can a double-entry accounting system be good for the administration to operate their business?
Can strategic administration accounting be utilized in the publishing sector?
What advantages of the cost accounting view for entrepreneurs to improve their productivity?
How can a bank control risks? Make use of the HSBC method to manage risks.
Management accounting and performance administration in the healthcare enterprise.

These are the following accounting research topics for tax, and it is such as;

Essential research of the impacts of small business budgeting impacts on tertiary organization management.
Researching the exceptions in the USA’s taxation system.
Analyzing how income tax impacts start-ups and small corporations.
Researching how accounting and taxation knowledge among managers can help a country.
The impact of tax administration on revenue generation
The effects of revenue generation on tax auditing and investigation in developing economies.
Analyzing the impacts of intellectual capital on the growth and development of huge enterprises.
Tax legislation for the freelance market. Discuss the steps and policies to ensure fair taxation for freelancers.
Analyzing the taxation system concerning the expansion and advancement of underdeveloped countries.
Confer the different tax evasion standards adopted by CEOs based on gender variety.

Online Accounting Research Paper Topics

Exploring the significance of audit for large corporate houses.
Important elements for understanding ratio research.
The impacts of accounting info on the cost of capital of a company.
Various methods to monitor liquidity levels using financial accounting tools.
The part of trendy accounting in the economic growth of appearing economies.
Components of global accounting.
Efficient earnings planning methods.
The impact of tax management on income production.
Stock control in cost control and its benefits.
Effect of accounting and public expense.
Applicability of accounting info for public sector institutions.

These are the following accounting research topics for the fund, and it is such as;

In-depth analysis and discussion on fund accounting in non-profit associations.
Checking the various financial research models.
Distinctions in theory and practice in international fund accounting.
Exploring the various fund accounting policies.
Estimate the Non- GAAP indicators.
Which are Cam’s critical audit matters?
Which are the non-financial info disclosures by associations?
The Effect of audit boards and commissions.
Reasonable deal proportions and auditing accounting estimates.
Applicability of accounting software.
Efficient returns are preparation methods.
Stock control in cost administration and its benefits.
The impact of tax management on revenue production.
Applicability of accounting information for public sector association.

Forensic Accounting Topics

Forensic accounting techniques in detecting financial statement fraud
Role of forensic accounting in investigating corporate governance failures
Use of data analytics and technology in forensic accounting investigations
Forensic accounting in bankruptcies and insolvency cases
Forensic accounting in divorce and matrimonial disputes
Forensic accounting in insurance claim investigations
Forensic accounting in detecting money laundering activities
Forensic accounting in intellectual property rights cases
Forensic accounting in environmental crimes and violations
Ethical challenges and standards in forensic accounting

Accounting Information Systems Topics

Impact of cloud computing on accounting information systems
Cybersecurity risks and controls in accounting information systems
Big data analytics in accounting information systems
Blockchain technology and its applications in accounting information systems
Artificial intelligence and machine learning in accounting information systems
Internet of Things (IoT) and its impact on accounting information systems
Mobile accounting and its adoption challenges
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and their integration with accounting systems
Data governance and privacy concerns in accounting information systems
Continuous auditing and monitoring in accounting information systems

Accounting Ethics and Corporate Governance Topics

Ethical decision-making frameworks for accountants
Role of accountants in promoting corporate social responsibility
Whistleblowing and reporting mechanisms in accounting
Diversity and inclusion in the accounting profession
Accounting for human rights and labor practices
Accounting for climate change and environmental sustainability
Accounting for anti-corruption and transparency measures
Accounting for corporate political activities and lobbying
Accounting for executive compensation and income inequality
Ethical considerations in the gig economy and sharing economy

Public Sector and Governmental Accounting Topics

Accounting for public-private partnerships
Accounting for government grants and subsidies
Accounting for public sector pensions and employee benefits
Accounting for infrastructure projects and public assets
Accounting for social welfare programs and entitlements
Accounting for natural resources and public lands
Accounting for public debt and deficit financing
Accounting for public sector performance measurement and accountability
Accounting for public sector risk management
Accounting for public sector information technology systems

International Accounting Topics

Harmonization of accounting standards across different countries
Accounting for foreign currency transactions and translations
Accounting for multinational corporations and cross-border transactions
Accounting for foreign direct investment and joint ventures
Accounting for international transfer pricing and tax planning
Accounting for international mergers and acquisitions
Accounting for emerging markets and developing economies
Accounting for international non-profit organizations and NGOs
Accounting for international trade and global supply chains
Accounting for international financial reporting standards (IFRS) convergence

Specialised Accounting Topics

Accounting for the healthcare industry
Accounting for the hospitality and tourism industry
Accounting for the construction industry
Accounting for the real estate industry
Accounting for the entertainment and media industry
Accounting for the transportation and logistics industry
Accounting for the automotive industry
Accounting for the oil and gas industry
Accounting for the agricultural and food industry
Accounting for the renewable energy and sustainability sector

Emerging Accounting Topics

Accounting for cryptocurrencies and digital assets
Accounting for non-fungible tokens (NFTs)
Accounting for the metaverse and virtual economies
Accounting for artificial intelligence and machine learning applications
Accounting for the Internet of Things (IoT) and connected devices
Accounting for sharing economy platforms (e.g., Uber, Airbnb)
Accounting for gig economy and freelance work
Accounting for drones and autonomous vehicles
Accounting for gene editing and biotechnology
Accounting for space exploration and commercial space travel

Corporate Reporting and Disclosures Topics

Integrated reporting and sustainability disclosures
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting
Reporting on human capital and intellectual capital
Disclosures on cybersecurity risks and data privacy
Reporting on climate change risks and mitigation strategies
Disclosures on corporate tax practices and tax transparency
Reporting on supply chain sustainability and ethical sourcing
Disclosures on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives
Reporting on executive compensation and pay ratios
Disclosures on political contributions and lobbying activities

Accounting Education and Research Topics

Integrating emerging technologies in accounting education
Developing data analytics skills in accounting curricula
Incorporating ethics and professional responsibility in accounting education
Teaching methodologies for online and distance learning in accounting
Experiential learning and case studies in accounting education
Interdisciplinary approaches in accounting research
Accounting research methodologies and data collection techniques
Accounting research in emerging economies and developing countries
Accounting research on sustainability and environmental issues
Accounting research on corporate governance and accountability

Accounting for Specialized Transactions and Events

Accounting for business combinations and acquisitions
Accounting for divestitures and discontinued operations
Accounting for restructuring and reorganization activities
Accounting for stock-based compensation and employee stock options
Accounting for derivative financial instruments and hedging activities
Accounting for leases and off-balance sheet financing
Accounting for research and development (R&D) expenditures
Accounting for pension and employee benefit plans
Accounting for asset impairments and write-downs
Accounting for contingencies and provisions

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This helpful guide gives you a big list of more than 200 accounting research ideas covering lots of different topics like how accounting works, taxes, checking financial records, investigating financial crimes, behaving ethically in business, rules for running big companies, accounting around the world, and new areas of study.

Picking the right topic is really important. If you’re struggling with your accounting homework or research, it might be a good idea to get help from experts like CallTutors.com.

This guide is a great starting point for students and researchers who want to dig into interesting and important topics in the constantly changing world of accounting.

Which are the Top 7 Types of Accounting?

Answer:- These are the following seven types of accounting, and it is such as: Managerial Accounting, Government Accounting, Financial Accounting, Tax Accounting, Cost Accounting, Cost Accounting, Forensic Accounting.

What is the #1 rule in accounting?

Ans: Debit the receiver and credit the giver.

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Post Award Accountant - Pediatrics

Madison, Wisconsin
SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH/PEDIATRICS-GEN
Sponsored Programs, Grants, and Contracts
Partially Remote
Staff-Full Time
Staff-Part Time
Opening at: May 31 2024 at 14:10 CDT
Closing at: Jun 14 2024 at 23:55 CDT

Job Summary:

The Department of Pediatrics is seeking a Post-Award Accountant to join our friendly, supportive and dynamic team and provide post-award grants administration support to faculty, researchers and trainee investigators in the Department. This position serves as the primary point of contact managing the sponsored projects funding portfolios for a group of Department of Pediatrics (DOP) investigators and staff. Responsibilities include working with principal investigators and research staff to budget, monitor expenditures, and reconcile financial data for sponsored programs, including processing and/or approving accounting transactions such as cost transfers, procurement, sub award management, and financial processing related to sponsored project management. Your work will directly support our exciting research in a culture where people and ideas thrive!

Responsibilities:

25% Assists principal investigators with financial management of sponsored program budgets and directs day-to-day fiscal transactions
25% Prepares and processes financial reporting and/or invoicing information
15% Provides expertise and advice related to procurement and allowable charges
20% Reviews financial expenditures for accuracy on sponsored grants and contracts
15% May work on receipt and setup of sponsored awards and agreements, as well as providing information and support for proposal preparation

Institutional Statement on Diversity:

Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals. The University of Wisconsin-Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background - people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world. For more information on diversity and inclusion on campus, please visit: Diversity and Inclusion

Preferred Associate's Degree

Qualifications:

- Experience with research administration (pre or post-award) in an academic setting and/or medical setting preferred - Experience with sponsored projects and UW financial policies and systems a plus - Effective oral and written communication skills, independent problem solving and analytical skills, attention to detail and organization, and an outgoing and energetic service-oriented approach required. - Experience interpreting and analyzing financial data a plus. - Ability to be flexible in work assignments and work effectively with faculty, staff, university administrators and funding agency representatives is critical.

Full or Part Time: 80% - 100% This position may require some work to be performed in-person, onsite, at a designated campus work location. Some work may be performed remotely, at an offsite, non-campus work location.

Appointment Type, Duration:

Ongoing/Renewable

Minimum $63,000 ANNUAL (12 months) Depending on Qualifications

Additional Information:

Successful applicant will be responsible for ensuring eligibility for employment in the United States on or before the effective date of the appointment.

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Managerial Accounting Research Project Topics
Journal of Management Accounting Research
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Managerial Accounting Research Project Topics
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Top Accounting Research topics for students in 2023

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150 Accounting Research Topics for College In 2023
Here are forensic accounting research paper topics you can use if you are interested in this booming segment: Methods for identifying instances of money laundering. The government's right to search private accounts. The use of tax records to report possible crimes. Class action litigation cases in the United States.
Best 101 Management Accounting Dissertation Topics Ideas
Management accounting in China: focus on recent trends and developments. International management accounting (IFM): uncovering the core competencies required. Financial management and CIMS environment: focusing on the relationship. Budgeting and management accounting: comparing small and medium companies.
600 Accounting and Finance Thesis Topics
600 Accounting and Finance Thesis Topics. Embarking on a thesis in accounting and finance is a pivotal step in a student's academic journey. This section provides a comprehensive list of accounting and finance thesis topics, each tailored to reflect the most current issues and anticipate future directions in the field.
MAR
About the journal. Management Accounting Research aims to serve as a vehicle for publishing original scholarly work in the field of management accounting. The Journal welcomes original research papers using archival, case, experimental, field, survey or any other relevant empirical method, as well as analytical …. View full aims & scope.
Highlights of management accounting research
TOPICS. Academic research in management accounting can provide companies with insight in using management accounting systems to better achieve strategic and operating objectives. It explains or predicts how the design of managerial accounting systems will affect management actions and an organization's success, or how internal and external ...
53887 PDFs
Explore the latest full-text research PDFs, articles, conference papers, preprints and more on MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTING. Find methods information, sources, references or conduct a literature review ...
Spotlight on 130+ Accounting Research Topics: Bridging ...
Accounting research topics refer to specific subjects or areas within the field of accounting that scholars, researchers, and students focus on for in-depth investigation, analysis, and exploration. These topics aim to contribute new knowledge, insights, and understanding to the accounting discipline. Accounting research topics can cover a wide ...
Exploring 120+ Management Accounting Dissertation Topics
E-Accounting Dissertation Topics. Since management accounting is linked to the managerial elements of accounting and finance in organizational structures, it differs from dissertation subjects in financial accounting. Undergraduate management accounting study topics also cover several facets of managerial structures that are frequently used in ...
Journal of Management Accounting Research
The American Accounting Association is the largest community of accountants in academia. Founded in 1916, we have a rich history built on leading-edge research and publications. The diversity of our membership creates a fertile environment for collaboration and innovation. Collectively, we shape the future of accounting through teaching ...
Accounting Articles, Research, & Case Studies
by David Freiberg, Katie Panella, George Serafeim, and T. Robert Zochowski. Impact-weighted accounting methodology standardizes previously disparate measures of impact, in this case the impact of employment. This paper's methodology and analysis of Intel, Apple, Costco, and Merck shows the feasibility of measuring firm employment impact for ...
71 Managerial Accounting Essay Topic Ideas & Examples
The three key processes of accounting are record keeping, analysis, and finalizing transactions to present them to the users of accounting and financial reports. Decision-Making With Managerial Accounting. The case of Southwest Airlines demonstrates the application of the budgeting technique in management accounting.
Contemporary Issues in Management Accounting
Jan 02, 2023 · 6 min read. Contemporary Issues in Management Accounting Contemporary Issues in Management Accounting. The following reports are based on academic research into innovative and topical areas of management accounting practice commissioned by CIMA. They highlight the key findings from the research and their relevance to the ...
70 Successful Accounting Thesis Topics for Students
Here are some good examples of accounting research topics ideas. Accounting origin. The Ethics of Accounting and Its Relevance in The Society. Company structure influence on Accounting. Information Systems For Accounting. Accounting and Taxes. Accounting as Relates to Personal Finance. Profit Management.
Psychology in management accounting and control research: an overview
For decades, management accounting and control (MAC) researchers have employed a diverse set of source disciplines to predict and examine behavior, and psychology is among the most frequently drawn upon. Although the literature confirms that psychological theories are highly relevant to MAC research, the existing knowledge on this field remains fragmented. Given this background, we examine ...
100 Best Accounting Research Topics
100 Original Accounting Research Topics. The recommended process for coming up with a research topic in any field is straightforward. 1) You should brainstorm several ideas; 2) You should choose a topic that interests you; 3) You should choose a topic that is original, and 4) You should choose a topic you know you can research and write about ...
The Impact of Management Accounting Research: An Analysis of the Past
Abstract. This paper aims to explore the impact of management accounting research through a review of the literature on the issues related to this topic; some new avenues of research are also ...
Innovative Data
Moreover, we develop a matrix of new data sources and management accounting research topics and highlight combinations of data and topics that represent promising starting points for future research. Our goal is to inspire future research by showing the rich field of innovative data and the diversity of applications that are related to ...
Management accounting news and resources
Hear or read an in-depth look at results of a quarterly survey on economic sentiment, with a focus on hiring plans and revenue and profit projections for 2024. The latest management accounting news and insights from the Journal of Accountancy, the ultimate resource for today's CPA.
Top 200+ Accounting Research Topics For Students In 2024
Accounting Theory Research Topics. These are the following accounting research topics for accounting theory, and it is such as; Effect of state-of-the-art technologies on the accounting sector. Application of accounting software. Current expansions in accounting software. The trouble of accounting standards.
Full article: Machine Learning in Management Accounting Research
Special Issue on "Innovative Data Sources in Management Accounting Research and Practice" ... And as mentioned, instead of sentiment, we could identify, for example, topics related to organizational control and then measure how enabling/coercive the control is. Third, is a discussion reviewing the past or the future is an interesting aspect
Management Accounting Research Approaches: A Critical Review
approaches to manage ment accounting research. Chua (1986) summarized the differences among the three. approaches and their u nderlying assumptions as shown in Table 1. Conventional a ccounting ...
Topics in Management Accounting Research
View PDF. Topics in Management Accounting Research COURSE OBJECTIVE This is a doctoral-level seminar course. We will discuss a series of important research topics in management accounting, with a focus on experimental research. The main purpose of the course is to help you: 1) understand the theoretical framework and related empirical findings ...
Research Topics for Management Accounting Research
These are tentative research topics for your management accounting research class. These topics are all accounting-related. the relationship between college
Post Award Accountant
Works directly with principal investigator and research staff to budget, monitor expenditures, and reconcile financial data for sponsored programs. May directly process and/or approve accounting transactions such as cost transfers, procurement, sub award management, and financial processing related to sponsored project management.

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Spotlight on 130+ Accounting Research Topics: Bridging Theory and Practice

What are Accounting Research Topics?

Accounting Research Topics

Financial Reporting and Analysis

Auditing and Assurance

Taxation and Tax Planning

Corporate Governance and Ethics

Management Accounting and Costing

International Accounting and Reporting

Emerging Technologies and Innovations

Sustainability and Environmental Accounting

Behavioral Aspects in Accounting

Financial Markets and Investments

Advanced Accounting Research Topics

The Role of Sustainability Accounting in Corporate Decision-Making

Auditor Judgment and Decision-Making in Complex Financial Environments

Financial Reporting Quality and Market Valuation

Tax Avoidance Strategies of Multinational Corporations

Corporate Governance and Earnings Management

Behavioral Biases in Investment Decision-Making

Digital Transformation and Accounting Information Systems

Financial Distress Prediction Models for Firms

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Reporting Frameworks

Regulatory Changes in the Post-Global Financial Crisis Era

Impact of IFRS Adoption on Financial Reporting Quality