Calling All Case Writers Carl Menconi SustainabilityDEI Competitions

IMA^® (Institute of Management Accountants) has two upcoming case writing opportunities.

Carl Menconi Ethics Case Writing Competition

The prestigious competition, sponsored jointly by the IMA Committee on Ethics and IMA’s Professor-in-Residence, Laurie Burney, Ph.D., CMA, works to develop and distribute teaching cases focused on business ethics. Submissions must focus on business ethics, with specific application to management accounting and finance issues, and reference the IMA Statement of Ethical Professional Practice. The competition is open to academics as well as practitioners, and joint submissions are encouraged. The deadline is January 19, 2023.

Winners of the competition will be featured in IMA’s flagship publication, Strategic Finance, and the case author or team will be recognized at IMA’s Accounting & Finance Conference (IMA23), to be held in Minneapolis in June 2023. Winners will also receive free Conference registration and a $500 cash prize. To learn more, see the full submission requirements.   

Earlier this year, three professors from Eastern Kentucky University—Justin Stearns, Ph.D., Michael Fore, J.D., and Sarah Feltus, Ph.D.—won the 16th annual competition with their entry titled “Ethics and Controls at Accountable Coffee Co.” The case, featured in the July 2022 issue of Strategic Finance, describes the fictitious dilemma of Isabella McGill, an employee at a small business who discovers questionable activities by her regional manager. The authors also received a $500 cash prize and were recognized by IMA.

The winning case and teaching notes will be available later this year for use in a classroom or business setting. IMA academic members will be able to access and download the teaching notes from the Academic Teaching Notes portion of the IMA Educational Case Journal (IECJ^®) webpage. 

For questions or additional information about the Carl Menconi Ethics Case Writing Competition, please contact research@imanet.org.

Sustainability/DEI Case Writing Competition

IECJ is also seeking submissions for its new sustainability and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) case writing competition. Cases can cover either area and should be appropriate for managerial, financial, or accounting information systems courses.

This competition carries cash prizes for the winners: $3,000 for first place, $2,000 for second place, and $1,000 for third place. Submissions should include a separate and complete teaching note, and short cases (1,500 words or less, excluding exhibits) reflecting “real-world” situations are preferred.

There are two types of submission deadlines. The optional Early Bird review includes one round of initial feedback by the IECJ editors. This is not a complete review but provides suggestions on how to improve a draft case study before the final submission. The deadline for this optional review is September 30, 2022. Final submissions are due by December 31, 2022.

Full submission requirements can be found on the IMA website on the IMA Educational Case Journal webpage. For more information regarding this case competition or IECJ, please contact Susie Duong, IECJ managing editor, at iecj@imanet.org.