Dr. Andrew Bargerstock, chair, Department of Accounting
Ye Shi, assistant professor of accounting
Dr. Bargerstock and Ms. Shi with their award at the IMA 2017 conference in Denver
Professor Andrew Bargerstock and PhD student Ye Shi won an award for writing the best article in the peer-reviewed journal Strategic Finance. They formally accepted the Lybrand Gold Medal Award at the annual conference of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) on June 20 in Denver, Colorado.
The IMA Lybrand Awards Committee determines the top three peer-reviewed articles based on their outstanding contributions to the accounting and finance literature, awarding gold, silver, and bronze medals.
Titled “Are We Leaning Away from Standard Costing? Reconciling Lean Accounting Theory and Practice,” the article appeared in June 2016, and it examines an inconsistency in lean accounting theory and practice.
Specifically, it examines U.S. manufacturers that continue to use standard costing even though they have adopted Toyota-style process-improvement techniques. According to Dr. Bargerstock, lean manufacturing is increasingly being adopted in the U.S., but research shows that when those companies don’t also adopt lean accounting, it results in waste and inefficiency.
The article sheds light on possible reasons why: lack of knowledge about lean accounting, deeply entrenched institutional histories of standard costing, and inertia sustained by legacy enterprise resource planning systems.
This is just the latest award received by Dr. Bargerstock and Ms. Shi. In 2014, they were awarded IMA’s Menconi Award for Best Accounting Ethics Article. In addition, they are both two-time national award winners for their lean accounting accomplishments. Dr. Bargerstock also recently co-authoredMastering Leadership Alignment: Linking Value Creation to Cash Flow, published by Business Expert Press.
The Institute of Management Accountants was formed in 1919. Currently there are more than 85,000 members in 140 countries. The Institute offers the Certified Management Accountant certification, examinations, and a variety of support and educational programs.
MUM’s MBA Accounting Program includes classes in lean accounting and offers training for students to take the Certified Management Accountant and Certified Public Accounting exams. Students also compete in online business simulations, where they regularly place in the top 10.