Management Accounting Research Exemplified: A Tribute to David Otley

ABSTRACT This article follows the Lifetime Achievement Award conferred on Professor David Otley by the American Accounting Association’s Management Accounting Section in January 2026. Drawing on a close reading of Otley’s extensive body of published work, the article reflects on the intellectual foundations, distinctive qualities, and enduring impact of his contribution to management accounting research. Inspired by Otley’s own articulation of eight desirable attributes of research—incremental, interpretive, integrated, inclusive, international, imaginative, interesting, and influential—we illustrate how these principles were consistently embodied in his scholarship over five decades. Through selected exemplars, the article shows how Otley’s work combined conceptual rigor with empirical richness, methodological openness, and sustained engagement with practice. In doing so, it highlights the coherence, relevance, and lasting influence of his research agenda, and underscores the ways in which his ideas continue to shape contemporary debates and inspire new generations of scholars.