IMA Research Foundation
The IMA Research Foundation is dedicated to funding relevant, thought-provoking research that furthers the knowledge and scope of accounting and financial management. To date, the Foundation has bestowed more than $2 million in research grants to academics and doctoral students.
2026 Call for Proposals
The IRF is launching its 2026 Call for Research Proposals. Research in specific areas of interest is especially encouraged although other topics will be considered.
Up to three (3) proposals received by the IRF will receive grants up to $20,000, based on an assessment of their potential to advance the practice of management accounting.
For more information, click here.
Deadline for Submission of Proposals: March 1, 2026, 12:00 Midnight EDT.
Winners to be announced by July 15, 2026.
IMA Research Grants
To submit a grant application for any of our grant programs, use the IMA Application Portal.
Guidelines for Submitting Research Proposals are available here.
The grant programs include:
|
Program and due date |
Description and award |
|
Submissions are due January 31. |
This program awards up to $5,000 for small Proof of Concept projects that will lead to more in-depth research. |
|
Academic Research Grant Program Ongoing submissions are accepted. |
This program awards grants for innovative research proposals relating to primary management accounting activities such as decision support, planning, and control. |
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Ongoing submissions are accepted. |
This program supports doctoral students at various stages in their programs. |
Surveying IMA Members
IMA encourages researchers to use alternative platforms for data collection, such as Qualtrics, LinkedIn polls, Connect (by CloudResearch) and Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Grant funding may be available to support the use of these services.
It is important to note that respondents on these platforms are often financially incentivized, which necessitates the inclusion of manipulation or attention checks to ensure data quality and respondent comprehension. Additionally, survey length should be carefully considered, as longer instruments tend to yield lower completion rates, particularly when targeting time-constrained professionals in the finance sector.
Awards
Distinguished Scholar Award
This award recognizes a researcher who has made outstanding contributions over a sustained period of time to the applied management accounting literature. This award recognizes the accomplishments of a mid-career or later nominee. Candidates must have received their terminal degree (e.g., Ph.D., DBA, Ed.D.) at least 10 years previously. This award may be awarded jointly to researchers who have collaborated extensively together.
Nominations Accepted: September 1 –April 1
Emerging Scholar Award
This award recognizes an early-career researcher who has made a meaningful and important contribution to the applied management accounting literature. Nominees must have published at least one single-authored manuscript or a co-authored article where they were the lead author. Nominees must have a terminal degree (e.g., Ph.D., DBA, Ed.D.) and have received their degree within the prior five years. Recipients of this award will receive an award of $2,500.
Nominations Accepted: September 1 –April 1
Questions about the IMA Research Foundation’s research grant programs and awards can be submitted to the IMA Research Foundation team at research@imanet.org.
IMA Research Foundation Executive Board Members
Lan Guo, Ph.D., CPA
Wilfrid Laurier University
Committee Chair
Yu Tia, Ph.D.
University of Central Florida
Committee Vice Chair
Kip Krumwiede, Ph.D., CMA, CPA, CSCA
Virginia Commonwealth University
Chair, Academic Proposal Review
Andrew J. Felo, Ph.D., CMA, CFM, CFE
Susquehanna University
Associate Chair, Academic Proposal Review
Wei Cai, Ph.D.
Columbia University
Chair, Doctoral Proposals Review
Lin Qiu, Ph.D.
Purdue University
Associate Chair, Doctoral Proposal Review
Susan F. Weiss, Ph.D., CMA, CFM, CPA
Rhode Island College
Chair, Awards Committee
Giovanni Chin-A-Sen, CMA
KaMin LLC
Associate Chair, Awards Committee
Vairam Arunachalam, Ph.D., CMA, CFE
University of Missouri
Chair Emeritus
IMA Research Foundation Advisory Board Members
Vibha Bhandari, Ph.D., CMA
University of Technology and Applied Sciences
Nizwa, Oman
Kristine M. Brands, DM, CMA
United States Air Force Academy
Kimberly Swanson Church, Ph.D.
Missouri State University
Gary M. Cokins, CPIM
Analytics-Based Performance Management, LLC
Alex Porto Alegre De Almeida
Will Demere, Ph.D., CPA
Indiana University
Shane Dikolli, Ph.D.
Darden School of Business
University of Virginia
Kanishk Dilaware, Chartered Accountant (ICAI) India, CMA
Shubhro Michael Gomes, CMA, FCMA (India), FIPA, FFA, PMP, CISA
Ron Guay, Ph.D., CPA, CGMA
Hussien Samy Hussien, AWD, CMA
William R. Koprowski, Ph.D., J.D., CMA, CFM
College of Charleston
Cheng-Hsun Lee, Ph.D.
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan
Seung Won Lee, Ph.D., CMA, CPA, CFA
Penn State Harrisburg
Chenyong Liu, Ph.D., CFE
California State University, Los Angeles
Mark D. Mishler, CMA, CFM, CPA
CFO Resource Management
Sumit Mishra, CMA
Monomita Nandy, Ph.D.
Tota Um Panggabean, Ph.D., CMA
California State University, Sacramento
Tamil Selvan Ramadoss, CMA, CSCA, ACMA, FIPA, FFA, MCSI, PMP, SFA (Harvard)
Group CFO & Business Transformation Officer
RMB Group, Dubai, UAE
Babu I. Razack, Ph.D., CMA, ACMA (India)
Dana C. Reiss, CMA, CFM, CPA, CPIM, CSCP
Stephen B. Salter, Ph.D.
Middle Tennessee State University
Dr. Mike Schulze
CBS International Business School, Germany
Ryan D. Sommerfeldt, Ph.D.
Brigham Young University
Sean Stein Smith, Ph.D., CMA
Lehman College
Keaton Blaise Trager, CMA
Parvathy Venkatesh, CMA, CSCA (India)
Ramanath Iyer & Company
Qijian Xiao, CMA, CISA, CFA-ESG
Industry Professor (China & Australia)