In general

Generally, we give priority to supervising Bachelor / Master / Diploma theses that are closely related to the research done at the chair and that have an empirical component.

  • The research focuses on the development and usage of management accounting in companies where technology plays a significant role for developing and improving products and services.
  • We are interested in the supporting role of management accounting for decision-making and performance management in areas such as manufacturing, logistics, supply chain management, and R&D. Please see the homepages of the people in the chair  for more information about our research interests.
  • The preferred empirical component of a thesis is field work, but we are open to various kinds of research designs.
  • We prefer theses that will be written in English.
  • All students who write their thesis at our chair are supported through the course "Management Accounting Research & Writing". For further information, please visit the course link on this page. 
  • An overview and abstracts of selected theses written at our chair can be found here.

 

Application process

You can apply for one of the open thesis projects offered by the chair, or you can propose your own thesis project.
Please use our form to express your interest. You will be asked to provide a recent curriculum vitae and a transcript as attachments.

 

Projects offered by the chair

  • Available and ongoing projects can be found in the table below.
  • You can always approach us with own ideas. We especially encourage students with their own start-up to come up with a both scientifically interesting and practically useful topic (further information).


Projects in companies or other external organizations

You can approach us with a proposal for a project that will be done in a company or other external organization. In this case, please keep the following requirements in mind:


  1. There should be a supervisor in the organization who will support you and will have time and resources to work with you. You and the supervisor should formulate a clear topic for the project.
  2. We will only accept projects that are at least somewhat related to our research interests.
  3. The project should have some involvement of departments outside finance. In other words, it needs to be cross-functional. In fact, the external supervisor does not have to be a controller or even work in a financial function.
  4. Not every topic that you might work on in a controlling department is necessarily suitable. Controllers are often also involved in responsibilities beyond management accounting, such as financial accounting (the annual financial statement), auditing, and taxation that are not within the scope of the chair of management accounting.
  5. This type of external project can be done for a Bachelor thesis or a Master / Diplom thesis. The difference lies in the required level of innovation. For a Master / Diplom thesis, the work developed for the organization has to be quite innovative relative to the literature. Techniques could be quite new, or the study could provide new and empirically founded insights into the process of developing or applying management accounting techniques. The work should have potential for publication, and the organization should be generally open to agree on possible publication of research results, except, of course, for confidential company data.