prof. dr. ir. P.M.G. (Paula) Dirks

Paula Dirks is a full Professor of Management Accounting at the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Groningen. She currently fulfills the role of research director of the Accounting Research Programme at this university. Previously, she was head of the accounting department. She received her Ph.D. in accounting from Tilburg University. She is also a certified controller (RC). She is involved in teaching on management accounting and control and in supervising students conducting their research and writing their thesis in this field in bachelor, master, executive and PhD programmes. She is a member of the Curatorium of the Executive Master of Finance and Control (EMFC).

Her research interests revolve around performance measurement and management control systems. Her research focuses on management control and strategy execution, financial and non-financial performance measures, the role of financial professionals such as management accountants, and interorganizational relationships and management control. She collaborates with practitioners in order to collects unique data that can provide important academic and managerial insights into how performance measurement and management control systems shape individual and organizational outcomes.  

Her research has appeared in leading academic journals including Accounting, Organizations and Society, Contemporary Accounting Research, Journal of Management Accounting Research, Supply Chain Management, Management Accounting Research, and Long Range Planning. She also serves as guest editor for a special issue at Management Accounting Research, as editor of the Journal of Management Control, and as editorial board member for Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal as well as for the Journal of Management Accounting Research.