Theses

Bachelor Theses

Before application
When applying to take on a bachelor thesis at the Institute of Accounting and Control (IUC), you can indicate up to three topic preferences. You have two options when selecting your preferences:

Firstly, you choose from the provided topics. Possible topics for bachelor theses can be found in our topic pool (PDF, 54 KB).

Secondly, you suggest your own topics or concrete tasks. Here, you should not only state the title of the chosen topic, but also formulate a paragraph in each case, which highlights the motivation, objective and the course of the investigation. For each self-selected topic, two relevant introductory sources should be mentioned. For topic identification, you may be guided by recent articles published in the leading journals in the field of accounting (e.g., Journal of Accounting Research, The Accounting Review, Contemporary Accounting Research, Review of Accounting Studies, or Accounting, Organizations and Society), as well as by the research interests of IUC's academic staff as indicated on the homepage. If you have questions about your own topic idea, please contact Dr. Nina Schwaiger. For administrative questions, please contact Ms. Kornelia Samlan. We will do our best to consider your topic wishes, but we cannot give you a binding assurance of this.
Application
Applications can be submitted regularly every two months (01.01., 01.03., 01.05., 01.07., 01.09., 01.11.) online here. The following documents (bundled) must be submitted by e-mail (info-iuc@bwl.lmu.de): Transcript of grades (incl. account statement proving successful participation in a main seminar; we recommend the seminar "Unternehmensrechnung/Controlling"), curriculum vitae and, if applicable, information on motivation, objectives, course of the investigation as well as relevant entry sources in case of own choice of topic.
Confirmation
Within one week after the application deadline, you will receive a confirmation of supervision from us. Shortly thereafter, the first interview will take place. In this first interview, the topic will be communicated and discussed. Subsequently, you will formulate the task in writing within one week (or concretize your own choice of topic). The focus here is on the relevance of the topic (motivation), the objective of the work and the course of the investigation. In the second preliminary meeting with the supervisor, we will give you feedback before the thesis is officially registered. This second preliminary meeting is therefore the deadline for the thesis and will take place within the next week after the first meeting. This ensures that all students start in the same calendar week. It is therefore not possible to start the work later, delayed in time. In case of a supervision cancellation, you are welcome to apply again in the next cycle. From the date of application, the processing time is exactly 8 weeks.
Bachelor Colloquium
Approximately two weeks after the start of the thesis, the IUC offers a voluntary Bachelor Colloquium, in which all students who are writing a thesis can participate. The goal of this voluntary bachelor colloquium is to show the status quo and to get feedback on the process so far. The goal of the colloquium is to provide students with constructive feedback. The time allowed for a presentation is 30 minutes (including discussion). After a further four weeks (i.e. approx. 6 weeks after the start of work), the obligatory Bachelor colloquium takes place, in which all Bachelor students writing a thesis at the Institute take part. The goal of this event is for students to present the status quo of their thesis, focusing on the outline and methodological approach. The presentation should be approximately 15 minutes long. An additional 15 minutes will be used for feedback and the opportunity to ask questions.
Further Feedback
Of course, we are available to answer any further questions you may have during the office hours. Please contact your supervisor for this purpose.
Submitting the thesis
Please note the current instructions of the ISC for the submission!

The following diagram illustrates the complete process from application to submission of the bachelor thesis.

General information about bachelor theses at the IUC
The number of supervised papers depends on the capacity of the institute. If the number of applicants exceeds the capacity of the institute, the selection will be made according to the previous academic achievements, the specialization subject/focus and, if applicable, the quality of the topic proposal.

Our recommendations for a bachelor thesis at our institute are as follows:

- Business Accounting (ABWL) and at least one of the courses
- Controlling (VL+Ü) or
- Value-based management (VL+Ü)

Participation in our main seminar is explicitly recommended. The confirmation of supervision expires if the students concerned do not report to the institute within one week (from the announcement of the confirmation of supervision). Applications that could not be considered at an award date will not be continued. This means that in case of continued interest in a bachelor thesis position, a new application must be submitted at the next award date.

Bachelor theses can be written in German or English.

For the preparation of theses, the formal requirements (PDF, 382 KB) of the institute for the preparation of scientific papers must be observed.
Bachelor thesis publications
Junior Management Science is the scientific journal for publishing outstanding theses in business and management. Exemplary papers can be found on the JUMS website - get inspired!

Master Theses

Application
An application is possible every two months (01.01., 01.03., 01.05., 01.07., 01.09., 01.11.) online here. The following documents must be submitted by e-mail (info-iuc@bwl.lmu.de): Transcript of grades and curriculum vitae.

The following time schedule is the basis for the assignment of a master thesis:

After the application has been reviewed, you will receive a confirmation or rejection from the chair and will be assigned to a supervisor.

During the first and second appointment with your supervisor, you will jointly concretize the topic based on your topic suggestions from the application.

Afterwards, the thesis will be officially registered at the ISC. To register your master's thesis, you will submit an exposé including literature sources, in which the motivation, research question, theoretical argumentation as well as methodical implementation of the topic are addressed.

With the registration of your master thesis the official processing time of 22 weeks starts.
General information about master theses at the IUC
The number of supervised papers depends on the capacity of the institute. If the number of applicants exceeds the capacity of the institute, the selection will be made according to the previous academic achievements, the specialization subject/focus and, if applicable, the quality of the topic proposal.

The confirmation of supervision expires if the students concerned do not report to the institute within one week (from the announcement of the confirmation of supervision). Applications that could not be considered at an award date will not be continued. This means that in case of continued interest in a master's thesis position, a new application must be submitted at the next award date.

Master's theses can be written in German or English.

For the preparation of the theses, the formal requirements (PDF, 382 KB) of the Institute for the preparation of scientific papers must be observed.
Master thesis publications
Junior Management Science is the scientific journal for publishing outstanding theses in business and management. Exemplary papers can be found on the JUMS website - get inspired!

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