Prof. Dr. Susumu Ueno, 
 Chair of the Board of Directors (2014- ), President (2010-2013)　

 
March 1, 2026

It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the Asia-Pacific Management Accounting Association (APMAA) in 2026. Since its inception in 2002 and formal establishment in 2004, APMAA has gradually developed into an internationally connected academic community in the Asia-Pacific region. Our network now spans more than twenty countries, bringing together scholars, practitioners, and doctoral students who share a commitment to advancing accounting research and practice across diverse institutional, cultural, and economic contexts.

Our Mission and Identity

APMAA promotes a broad and balanced perspective on accounting scholarship. Our conferences and publications bring together research in three closely related areas:

• Management Accounting and Performance Measurement
• Financial Accounting, ESG, and Sustainability Reporting
• Internal Control, Governance, and Auditing

We believe that meaningful accounting research benefits from dialogue across these areas, reflecting the interconnected nature of organizational decision-making, accountability, and societal responsibility.

A Diverse and Open Academic Community

From its beginning, APMAA has been guided by a spirit of openness. Participation in the annual conference constitutes membership, enabling scholars from a wide range of countries and institutional contexts to engage in international academic exchange. Our regional chapters, global supporters, and institutional partners include universities and research institutions across Asia, Oceania, Europe, the Middle East, and North America.

This diversity encourages comparative perspectives and cross-cultural dialogue in accounting research.

Commitment to Transparency and Scholarly Standards

Transparency and collegial governance remain central to the development of APMAA. Each year, we publicly acknowledge our directors, committees, reviewers, and conference contributors, recognizing the collective effort that sustains the association.

Our peer-review process aims to ensure fair and constructive scholarly evaluation:

• Double-blind peer review for all full papers
• A reviewer community of more than 100 scholars from over 15 countries
• Constructive comments from designated discussants for accepted papers
• Use of Microsoft CMT to support consistent review management

Our updated ethical guidelines—including the 2026 AI Use Policy—also reflect our commitment to responsible research practices in an evolving technological environment.

Supporting the Next Generation of Scholars

APMAA places particular importance on supporting early-career researchers. Our Doctoral Colloquium, doctoral paper sessions, mentoring initiatives, and discussant system provide young scholars with opportunities for international engagement and constructive feedback.

Emerging Themes in Accounting Research

The 2026 conference highlights several themes shaping contemporary accounting research:

• AI and digital transformation in management accounting
• ESG, sustainability reporting, and integrated thinking
• Public sector accounting and accountability
• Real-time management accounting and “Digital Twins”
• Ethics and governance in the age of AI

Through discussions on these topics, APMAA seeks to contribute to ongoing conversations about the role of accounting in addressing technological change and broader societal challenges.

A “Phygital” Academic Platform

APMAA has also developed hybrid (“phygital”) forms of academic exchange. Our webinar series has attracted more than 1,100 registrants worldwide, fostering dialogue among scholars who may not always be able to attend the annual conference in person.

Knowledge Dissemination

APMAA maintains several publication channels to document and disseminate research presented within our community:

• Conference Proceedings (with two-year protected access to respect authors’ publication rights)
• Book of Abstracts and Conference Reports
• APMAA News (40 issues published since 2009)
• Asia-Pacific Management Accounting Journal (APMAJ), indexed in ESCI, ABDC, ERA, EBSCO, Cabell’s, and UDLedge

Looking Ahead

As APMAA enters its third decade, we remain committed to fostering an academic community that is internationally engaged, intellectually open, and supportive of scholars at different stages of their careers.

Researchers, practitioners, and students from around the world are warmly invited to participate in our activities and to share in this continuing academic journey.

Finally, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the many colleagues, reviewers, organizers, and volunteers whose dedication sustains APMAA's activities. The continued development of our association reflects the collective efforts of this international community.

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January 1, 2021                                                                                                              

               
APMAA Policy for the year 2021 is “Nurturing and Reinforcing APMAA Sustainability.” In 2021, we aim to achieve the following:

　1. Building more value for our members. APMAA is a “members-first” organization. As everyone recognizes, our annual conferences are the platform that brings our members together, 
　2. Conducting a “Spring Webinar” (for 2-3 days in next late March) and “Summer Webinar”, hosted by a regional/country chairs in addition to the 2021 regular annual conference,
　3. Refining APMAA vision, rules, and guidelines that tell members what APMAA stands for, how it operates, and why it deserves its business, and
　4. Sharing administrative tasks (duties) among all Representative Directors, Senior Directors, and Directors. 

 APMAA is an academic association supported and runs by the goodwill of diligent volunteers. In 2021, APMAA renovates its Administration Team and Regional Chapter system. We introduce four committees, i.e., Strategy Committee, Webinar Committee, Collaborative Research Project Committee, and Membership Committee. This renovation aims to facilitate the APMAA to change itself into a sustainable organization that survives and grows over the coming decades. 

On November 25, 2020, APMAA completed the APMAA 2020 Webinar Talk Series “Staying Relevant: Finance and Management Accounting in a Digital Era” The webinar comprised eight-sessions and started on October 1, and attracted over 1, 000 audiences in total. The series was organized by the team of Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Malaysia. The UiTM was supposed to conduct the APMAA 2020 conference on 1 – 4 Nov 2020. However, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the plan. Thank you for the technology. Zoom application provided us an alternative platform.

In 2020, APMAA obtained the product of its first collaborative research project initiated at the APMAA 2016 Annual Conference in Taipei. That is a book entitled "Management Accounting in China and Southeast Asia - Empirical Studies of Current Practices" (edited by Dr. Robert C. Rickards, Dr. Rolf Ritsert, and Dr. Kanitsorn Terdpaopong; and scheduled to be published from Springer Nature Switzerland AG in April 2021. The research project focused on the Stages of Management Accounting Evolution in the Asia-Pacific Area. Congratulations! 

APMAA will celebrate its 20th Anniversary of foundation in 2024. Let’s develop and introduce more events and projects under the APMAA flag that are attractive enough to satisfy a variety of demands from our diversified members across the globe. Our journey to the 20th-anniversary conference has begun already. See all of you at APMAA 2021 in Jakarta. Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay connected. 

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January 1, 2019

APMAA 2019 in Doha will commemorate the 15th Anniversary of the Asia-Pacific Management Accounting Association.

Our association was founded in 2004 by the leadership of Professor Akira Nishimura and grew gradually. It was the 6^th conference (formerly called “forum”) in 2010 held at National Taiwan University that the overseas participants to our annual conference reached double digit numbers. Thanks to the efforts by APMAA directors and members, today, our conference welcomes around 100 overseas accounting and management scholars and experts from across the world, in addition to attendees from the host nation.

 APMAA is a “members-first” organization. As everyone recognizes, our annual conferences have been the platform that brings our members together. Our conference programs are “of the members,” “by the members,” and “for the members.” All conference organizers have allocated sufficient time for presentation and discussion of the research papers by reviewers and discussants. Although we welcome practitioners as speakers, their presence should not overshadow the academics.

In APMAA 2018, we received many robust and rigorous scholarly papers. Of course, there exist broad variations in quality (relating to contents, writings, etc.) among papers submitted to APMAA parallel sessions. As an international academic association located in Asia, an important mission of APMAA is to provide regional researchers an easy-to-access platform for communicating their research results with overseas colleagues. No matter the conference venue, our review teams must ensure the integrity and the reliability of the research manuscripts in the proceedings. We will set up a scientific committee at headquarters to achieve the very important mission.

APMAA has grown into one of the leading associations of scholars and specialists in the field of management accounting. Administrative and secretariat tasks at headquarters have increased year by year. Some of our senior directors have hosted the annual conferences and accumulated rich experiences of various tasks. I wish I could share the routine and secretariat tasks with more directors. Let’s work together and achieve a sustainable growth of APMAA.

I look forward to seeing you at APMAA 2019 in Doha.