III. Summer School on Accounting 2007

Empirical Research in Managerial Accounting

with


Professor Chris Ittner (Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania)


Lausanne, July 2-4, 2007

Introduction
This course is designed for PhD students and young researchers who would like to extend and deepen their knowledge on current research issues in Managerial Accounting. Topics include behavioural and economic determinants of control system choices, field research, archival research and survey research on performance measurement and the application of alternative theories and research methods to managerial accounting.

The subject draws primarily on theoretical frameworks developed in the economics and behavioural research literature. This literature provides the foundation for analyzing the factors that influence the effectiveness of management accounting systems. Management accounting systems are conceptualized as systems that are designed to serve two roles - the decision facilitating role and the decision control role. We aim to enhance students' ability to assess the functional and dysfunctional effects of management accounting systems in serving these roles.

We also examine the methods used in empirical management accounting research by studying method applications in extant research. This will enable students to critically evaluate, analyse, and criticize both the conceptual and method content of the extant literature. Through these evaluations we aim to enhance students' ability to develop new research questions that increase our understanding of management accounting systems in practice and to utilize appropriate research methods to explore such questions.

 
Course Schedule
This course is 'seminar based' as opposed to a lecture style. Students are expected to carefully read the papers assigned for each seminar. One class member will be assigned the readings set for each seminar. It will be the student's responsibility to present the assigned paper and critique it. All other students are expected to read the set papers prior to each seminar, and to be ready to engage in discussion with the student presenting and critiquing each paper. The classroom environment will therefore be highly participative.

We expect an active cooperation from the participants. Therefore it is essential to become acquainted with appropriate scientific papers for the participation in the course. A list of the relevant literature is sent to the participants in time. Students should already prepare the introductive article: Ittner, C.D/Larcker, D.F. (2001), Assessing Empirical Research in Managerial Accounting, in Journal of Accounting and Economics, 2001, p. 349-410.


Venue
The course will be held on the premises of the University of Lausanne, HEC in Switzerland.
For further information on the city of Lausanne, see here.


Organisation
The seminar leader is Prof. Chris Ittner (Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania) an internationally highly recognized colleague.

The summer school is jointly organised by
  •  Prof. Dr. Alexis H. Kunz (University of Lausanne, HEC),
  •  Prof. Dr. Christian Hofmann (University of Tübingen), and
  •  Prof. Dr. Thomas Pfeiffer (University of Vienna).

 

Course language
The course language is English.


Admission requirements
The course focuses on issues of managerial accounting, performance measurement and cost accounting on an advanced level. The participants should therefore exhibit, apart from analytic abilities, knowledge within the range of these topics. Moreover, a close relation of the topic of your own scientific work to the studied issues is desirable. The number of participants is limited to 25 persons.


Fees
No enrollement fees apply.

Accommodation
We already reserved some rooms at the local youth hostel. Please indicate with your application whether you want to book a single and/or a double room with showers in the youth hostel.

Below you find a list of hotels which we can recommend and which are closely located to the University of Lausanne.

Hotel Hotel Agora **** Hotel City *** Youth hostel
Single Room CHF 150.- CHF 136.- CHF 78.-
Double Room CHF 200.- CHF 180.- CHF 49.- per person
Triple Room CHF 250.- CHF 232.- -
Breakfast Included Included Not included
Bonus Free Parking and Movies Free Movies -
Visitor tax CHF 2.20 CHF 2.00 CHF 1

Application deadline
The deadline for applications is March 30, 2007. A complete application includes (i) a short personal record (Curriculum Vitae), (ii) a list of visited lectures in accounting, control or finance and (iii) a short description of the thesis and/or postdoctoral lecture qualification in English.

Please mail the documents as a pdf file (yourname_yourUniversity.pdf) to summerschool at unil.ch. Participants will be informed upon their acceptance by email by April, 9 2007.

History of the Summer School
The summer school takes place each year alternating in Vienna, Tübingen and Lausanne. Previous summer courses were held by Stefan Reichelstein (Stanford University) and by Joel Demski (University of Florida).
   


Contact Address
Maria Khodorkovskaya
Assistant of Prof. Dr. Alexis H. Kunz
Université de Lausanne, HEC
Internef, 510
CH - 1015 Lausanne
Switzerland
Tel: +41 - 21 - 692 - 34 58
Email: summerschool at unil.ch

Prof. Dr. Alexis H. Kunz
University of Lausanne, HEC
DEMA-URCCF
Internef Building, # 523
CH-1015 Lausanne-Dorigny
Switzerland