The Accounting Research Group consists of researchers related to the different fields within accounting, including several of the leading Danish experts within fields such as public sector management accounting, performance measurement, costing theory (including Activity Based Costing), shared service centers, budgeting and lean accounting.

The group members are part of a number of international and Scandinavian based research networks, and the research conducted in the group is aimed at both the highest levels of international academic publication as well as national and local dissemination through books, seminars and the media. We frequently have visiting researchers who participate in our research activities and seminars as well as contributing to teaching activities.

We have a continual flow of PhD students, both with full university funding and in combination with the private sector, which we believe is a vital part of creating a dynamic research environment. We are responsible for two flagship educational programmes which combine research-based teaching with the unique problem-based learning practiced at Aalborg University:

The MSc degree programme in Management Accounting and Control

The MSc degree programme in Auditing (cand.merc.aud)

The following list shows current research projects in the accounting research group:

Accounting and organisational effectiveness

• Leaner Accounting: The focus of the thesis is to identify the drivers of performance in finance departments and how different roles affect performance. Furthermore, how much can be learned from optimization in manufacturing and is it possible to transform these ideas to finance departments?
• Lean accounting – a research collaboration with Professor Larry Grasso
• Financial distress and psychological stress. Project in collaboration with Jeffrey Pfeffer, Stanford
• The learning organization, performance, lean and management accounting with focus on Industry 4.0
• The interplay between performance management and new trends in data analytics

Performance managment

• The construction of management control packages in interorganizational collaborations
• The Danish banking sector – budgeting and performance management
• Management Accounting Control (MCS) Packages. The idea behind MCS packages is that the companies have many different management systems at work at the same time; e.g. budgets, quality control system, Business Excellence models, Balanced Scorecards, LEAN initiatives, etc.; but the hypothesis is that it is the interaction and weighting of the different systems that determine the efficiency of the MCS
• CFO roles and performance – a large Danish survey study
• Beyond budgeting and budgeting
• Enabling forms of management accounting
• The role of bookkeeping on performance reporting

Public sector accounting

• Performance funding of Danish public schools
• The interrelationship between management accounting and social work

Accounting in creative environments

• Management accounting in museums

Financial accounting and auditing (Danish research)

• Analyse af behov for og konsekvenser af ændringer i havnelovgivnin­gen i Danmark i et internationalt perspektiv
• Udgivelse af en serie af kompendier om koncernregnskaber, EU-sel­skabsregler, vedtægter og ejeraftaler, ledelses- og ejeransvar, finan­siering, selskaber mv.
• Analyse af forskrifterne om gruppesøgsmål til brug for verserende banksager
• Medvirken ved Verdensbankens (IFC’s) finansiering af dansk-polske virksomheder til udvikling af svinefarme i Østeuropa
• Danske og internationale publiceringer om regnskab, revision, it-re­vision mv.
• Danske og internationale publiceringer om kontraktklausuler, grup­peforlig mellem virksomheder og kunder mv.

The affiliates of the Accounting Research Group provide teaching on a multitude of different levels varying from PhD courses, to bachelor level courses as well courses aimed at postgraduates. We are responsible for our two flagship educational programmes:

The MSc degree programme in Management Accounting and Control (which combines research-based teaching with the unique problem-based learning practiced at Aalborg University)

The MSc degree programme in Auditing (cand.merc.aud)