This session seeks to illustrate how academic research can, and probably should, be focused on relevant problems that are academically publishable as well as generate findings that are relevant and actionable for the practitioners who face the problem. That said, academics face the challenge of getting their academic research out of their proverbial ivory tower. “Ivory tower criticisms,” however, are also not entirely fair because academics do have impact, though delayed, by integrating their research into their teaching. But they could also be reaching out more directly to the practitioner community. This is easier if, throughout the research, researchers have kept actively challenging themselves to make sure of the relevance of their work. If so, then this is merely a matter of translation. But if the research fails the relevance test, then it is unlikely that the research is merely lost in translation — unfortunately, it may already have been lost before translation. That is something that academics, even if only for their self-fulfillment, will want to avoid. Working on problems relevant for practice is far more intrinsically rewarding, and after the research is completed, also pays off through real impact.

Simons’ Levers of Control (LoC) framework has been criticized for being conceptually and empirically evasive. Nevertheless, it has established itself as an influential perspective in both research and teaching within the field of management accounting and control. In this keynote address, I explore some of the reasons behind its widespread popularity. Furthermore, I discuss whether the LoC’s appeal is well-deserved, and whether it delivers what its adopters (including myself as a reluctant user) were seeking. Finally, I reflect on the potential future of the LoC: is it still part of a productive research agenda and does it still have the potential to inform practice?

Drawing on insights from accounting education research, this paper explores teaching and assessment innovative in management accounting. As the management accounting discipline evolves in response to changing business environments and technological advancements, traditional pedagogical methods and forms of assessment are being reassessed. The paper examines how innovative teaching strategies, including for example active learning (Castilla-Polo et al., 2022), action-based research (Frick and Waters, 2020) and the integration of digital tools and data analytics (Loftus et al, 2023; Sidorova et al., 2024), can enhance student engagement, promote deeper learning and critical thinking, and better prepare management accounting professionals for the workplace. By incorporating real-world scenarios (Rankin et al, 2023), innovations in management accounting teaching and assessment serve to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Drawing on developments in the field, the paper calls for academics to reimagine management accounting education to ensure its continued relevance in the contemporary business landscape.

Key words: Management Accounting, Education, Innovation, Teaching, Assessment

Back to the future. The pedagogy and content of British university management accounting courses. A personal journey.

This presentation draws on experiences gleaned during my journey teaching and researching management accounting. It reflects on how management accounting courses have been taught and their content in United Kingdom universities over the last sixty years, and factors driving this. The story is one of largely unchanging monological, didactic, technical teaching, often neglectful of research findings and issues, despite their rapid advance during this period. This fails to develop skills desired by employers and many students. It is attributed to undue concern about satisfying professional accreditation; sometimes employment of professionally qualified teachers ignorant of research; and universities exploiting previous high demand for accounting courses for financial gain. However, student applications are now in decline and employers still complain about too few applicants with creative, interpersonal and problem-solving skills. To counter this, it will be argued that some or all accounting degrees should pursue a dialogical pedagogy incorporating content based on Carnegie et al.’s definition of accounting as a technical, social and moral practice concerned with the sustainable utilisation of resources and proper accountability to stakeholders and draw more on contemporary research knowledge and topics. This could attract more students seeking challenging courses focused on contemporary issues and the public interest and develop the skills they and potential employers desire.