ACMAR 2021 – Of Crises and Opportunities
Just like many other conferences, the 18th Annual Conference for Management Accounting Research (ACMAR) took place online this year. Still, the conference remained true to its objectives: professors, researchers, and PhD students of the academic management accounting community from all over the world came together virtually to present research projects and to network.
Professor Marko Reimer, Professor Utz Schäffer, and Professor Jürgen Weber, the directors of the hosting Institute of Management Accounting and Control (IMC) of WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management, were very happy to welcome a record number of 286 participants.
By offering formats like round table sessions, sessions with discussants, and keynote speeches, the conference succeeded in fostering the open exchange between young and senior researchers once again.
The topics of the keynote presentations were dominated by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic – while Professor Mike Power of the London School of Economics (LSE) analyzed the impact of the crisis on the risk management in companies, Dr. Marcus Kuhnert reported on his experience as CFO of the pharmaceutical company Merck and the challenges and opportunities for his company that arose from the crisis. According to Winston Churchill’s principle “Never let a good crisis go to waste”, his company managed to open up new areas of business and increased demand for some of the company's products.
In closing the conference, Eva Labro, professor of accounting at the University of North Carolina, stressed the importance of cost accounting and encouraged doctoral students to research as well as exchange with practice in this field.
The concept of the conference includes a Doctoral Colloquium, which gave eight junior researchers from five countries the opportunity to present their research projects and to receive feedback from the faculty which consisted of Eva Labro, Mike Power and Utz Schäffer.
The next ACMAR will take place from March 3-4, 2022. We are looking forward to welcoming the management accounting community back to Vallendar!