Sebastian BECKER

Associate Professor

Accounting and Management Control

Biography

Sebastian D. Becker earned his Ph.D. from WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management (Vallendar, Germany) in 2011 and his M.Sc. (Diplom-Kaufmann) in business administration from EBS Business School (Oestrich-Winkel, Germany). He is an alumnus of the International Teachers Program (ITP).

Before joining the HEC Paris faculty, Sebastian was a post-doc at WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management. He was a visiting scholar at University of Innsbruck (Innsbruck, Austria), NHH (Bergen, Norway), Bocconi University (Milan, Italy), and HEC Paris (Paris, France).

Sebastian's research examines the diffusion, change, and implementation of accounting and control techniques in private and public sector organizations. He has a particular interest in budgeting and forecasting and is an expert on Beyond Budgeting. He also studies management techniques in startups, incubators and entrepreneurial ecosystems. His research has been published or is forthcoming in Contemporary Accounting Research, European Accounting Review, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Financial Accountability and Management, and Journal of Business Economics.

Sebastian teaches Management Accounting and Control as well as Business Performance Management topics in the MBA, Executive MBA, MSc and Ph.D. programs. In addition, he designed and built a new online course on scaling startups called "Managing the performance of a growing enterprise" with Coursera in HEC's Online Master for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He also teaches a course on business modelling and Lean Startup techniques and acts as a moderator for the "Creative Destruction Lab"-Accelerator program.

Sebastian has designed and delivered seminars for executives of large international corporations from Europe, the Middle East and China that are active in the airline, automotive, banking, energy, healthcare, logistics, manufacturing, packaging, telecommunications, as well as the public sector and non-profits. In addition, he gives talks on his research topics and business trends at events organized by consulting or law firms.

By BNP Paribas, he was awarded the Pierre Vernimmen Best Teacher Award. For an 'EduScrum' project he won the Prix Roux de Bézieux most innovative initiative in teaching award of the HEC Foundation. For his teaching in HEC's MBA, Sebastian won the "Most innovative teacher" award. By Poets & Quants he was named as one of the "40 Most Outstanding B-School Profs Under 40 in the world".

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Scientific articles

Entrepreneurial ecosystems as amplifiers of the Lean Startup philosophy – Management control practices in earliest-stage startups

Contemporary Accounting Research, Forthcoming, (in coll. with C. ENDENICH)

The interplay of core and peripheral actors in the trajectory of an accounting innovation: Insights from Beyond Budgeting

Contemporary Accounting Research, Winter 2020, vol. 37, n° 4, pp 2224-2256, (in coll. with M. MESSNER, U. SCHÄFFER)

Budgeting in times of economic crisis

Contemporary Accounting Research, Winter 2016, vol. 33, n° 4, pp 1489–1517, (in coll. with M. MAHLENDORF, U. SCHÄFFER, M. THATEN)

The role of perceived attributes for the diffusion of innovations in cost accounting: The case of Activity-Based Costing

Comptabilité Contrôle Audit, April 2015, vol. 1, n° 21, pp 105-137, (in coll. with A. WALD, C. GESSNER, R. GLEICH)

The translation of accrual accounting and budgeting and the reconfiguration of public sector accountants identities

Critical Perspectives on Accounting, July 2014, vol. 25, n° 4-5, pp 324-338, (in coll. with T. Jagalla, P. SKÆRBÆK)

When organizations deinstitutionalize control practices: A multiple-case study of budget abandonment

European Accounting Review, December 2014, vol. 23, n° 4, pp 593-623,

Structure and development of financial accounting research in German research journals

Journal of Business Economics, November 2012, vol. 82, n° 11, pp 1157-1191, (in coll. with E. Perrey, U. Schäffer)

A taxonomy of the perceived benefits of accrual accounting and budgeting: Evidence from German states

Financial Accountability & Management, May 2011, vol. 27, n° 2, pp 134-165, (in coll. with T. Jagalla, J. Weber)

Legitimacy and identity in Germanic management accounting research

European Accounting Review, May 2008, vol. 17, n° 1, pp 129-159, (in coll. with M. MESSNER, C. Binder, U. Schäffer)

Chapters in edited books

XVI. Jürgen Weber, Controlling in German-speaking countries

Les Grands Auteurs En Contrôle De Gestion, Samuel Sponem, Anne Pezet, EMS Editions, 281-297

Venture governance: How the Lean Startup philosophy changes the work of the board

Governance Of Ventures, Michael Hilb, Haupt Verlag, B, 49-56

The influence of the economic crisis on the tasks and roles of management accountants

The Role Of The Management Accountant: Local Variations And Global Influences, Lukas Goretzki and Erik Strauss, Routledge, London, 292-304

Management control as temporal structuring

Managing In Dynamic Business Environments: Between Control And Autonomy, K. Kaarbøe, P. N. Gooderham, H. Nørreklit (Eds.), Edward Elgar Publishing, 141-162

Transparency of processes and results

Controlling Und Jürgen Weber: Eine Festschrift Zum 60. Geburtstag, Alumni Hrsg., 11-13

Messen und Managen: Controlling und die (Un-) Berechenbarkeit des Managements

Zahlenwerk. Kalkulation, Organisation, Gesellschaft, H. Vollmer, A. Mennicken (eds.), Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaft, 87-104

Controlling als organisationale Praxis: Implikationen für die Forschung [Management accounting as organizational practice: Implications for empirical research]

Zur Zukunft Der Controllingforschung. Empirie, Schnittstellen Und Umsetzung In Der Lehre, Deutscher Universitäts Verlag, 143-160

Working papers

Entrepreneurial Ecosystems As Amplifiers of The Lean Startup Philosophy – Management Control Practices In Earliest-Stage Startups

Cahier de Recherche du Groupe HEC , 2022

Budgeting in Times of Economic Crisis

Cahier de Recherche du Groupe HEC , 2015

When Organizations Deinstitutionalize Control Practices: A Multiple-Case Study of Budget Abandonment

Cahier de Recherche du Groupe HEC , 2014

The Evolution of a Management Accounting Idea: The Case of Beyond Budgeting

Mimeo , 2010

Scientific articles

The interplay of core and peripheral actors in the trajectory of an accounting innovation: Insights from Beyond Budgeting

Contemporary Accounting Research, Winter 2020, vol. 37, n° 4, pp 2224-2256, (in coll. with M. MESSNER, U. SCHÄFFER)

Budgeting in times of economic crisis

Contemporary Accounting Research, Winter 2016, vol. 33, n° 4, pp 1489–1517, (in coll. with M. MAHLENDORF, U. SCHÄFFER, M. THATEN)

The role of perceived attributes for the diffusion of innovations in cost accounting: The case of Activity-Based Costing

Comptabilité Contrôle Audit, April 2015, vol. 1, n° 21, pp 105-137, (in coll. with A. WALD, C. GESSNER, R. GLEICH)

The translation of accrual accounting and budgeting and the reconfiguration of public sector accountants identities

Critical Perspectives on Accounting, July 2014, vol. 25, n° 4-5, pp 324-338, (in coll. with T. Jagalla, P. SKÆRBÆK)

Chapters in edited books

XVI. Jürgen Weber, Controlling in German-speaking countries

Les Grands Auteurs En Contrôle De Gestion, Samuel Sponem, Anne Pezet, EMS Editions, 281-297

Venture governance: How the Lean Startup philosophy changes the work of the board

Governance Of Ventures, Michael Hilb, Haupt Verlag, B, 49-56

The influence of the economic crisis on the tasks and roles of management accountants

The Role Of The Management Accountant: Local Variations And Global Influences, Lukas Goretzki and Erik Strauss, Routledge, London, 292-304

Management control as temporal structuring

Managing In Dynamic Business Environments: Between Control And Autonomy, K. Kaarbøe, P. N. Gooderham, H. Nørreklit (Eds.), Edward Elgar Publishing, 141-162

Working papers

Entrepreneurial Ecosystems As Amplifiers of The Lean Startup Philosophy – Management Control Practices In Earliest-Stage Startups

Cahier de Recherche du Groupe HEC , 2022

Budgeting in Times of Economic Crisis

Cahier de Recherche du Groupe HEC , 2015

When Organizations Deinstitutionalize Control Practices: A Multiple-Case Study of Budget Abandonment

Cahier de Recherche du Groupe HEC , 2014

The Evolution of a Management Accounting Idea: The Case of Beyond Budgeting

Mimeo , 2010

Education

2014
International Teachers Programme, HEC Paris - France
2011
Dr. rer. pol. (Ph.D.), WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management - Germany
2006
Diploma in Business Administration, European Business School (EBS), Germany as well as UADE, Argentina and NUS Business School - Singapore

Academic appointments

Academic Responsibilities at HEC

2020-2022 Department Head, Accounting and Management Control HEC Paris
2016- Associate Professor, Accounting and Management Control HEC Paris
2011-2016 Assistant Professor, Accounting and Management Control HEC Paris
2011- Member of GREGHEC, the joint research laboratory CNRS-HEC Paris HEC Paris

External Academic Responsibilities

2018-2019 Visiting professor University of Innsbruck
2011-2011 Post-doc WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management
2011-2011 Visiting researcher NHH
2010-2010 Visiting Ph.D. student Bocconi University
2009-2009 Visiting Ph.D. student HEC Paris

Scientific Activities

Membership in Academic or Professional Organisation

Member of the Management Committee - European Accounting Association (EAA)
European Accounting Association (EAA)
Beyond Budgeting Research Program at NHH (Bergen)
Association Francophone de Comptabilite (AFC)
Verband der Hochschullehrer fur Betriebswirtschaft e.V. (German Academic Association for Business Research - VHB)

Editorial activities

2015-2018 Responsible for the young scholars corner in the European Accounting Association (EAA) Newsletter

Member, Editorial Board, Qualitative Research in Accounting and Management (QRAM); Meditari Accountancy Research

Reviewer for Accounting, Organizations and Society (AOS); Journal of Management Studies (JMS); Management Accounting Research (MAR); European Accounting Review (EAR); Critical Perspectives on Accounting (CPA); Qualitative Research in Accounting Management (QRAM); Accounting, Auditing Accountability Journal (AAAJ); Accounting and Business Research (ABR); Journal of Management Control (JoMaC); Journal of Applied Accounting Research (JAAR); Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal (SAMPJ); International Journal of Public Sector Management (IJPSM); Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting Financial Management (JPBAFM); Revue Interdisciplinaire Management, Homme Entreprise (RIMHE), International Review of Administrative Sciences (IRAS), Schmalenbach Business Review (SBuR)

Conference organisation

2021-2024 Elected Member of the Management Committee - European Accounting Association (EAA)

Member of the Scientific Committee of the Annual Congress of the European Accounting Association (EAA) for 2013, 2014, 2015, 2019, 2020, 2021

Awards & honors

2021 2020 "Prix Roux de Bezieux" 'most innovative initiative in teaching'-award of the HEC Foundation for his project EduScrum Using (and thereby also teaching) Agile methods in pedagogy
2019 BNP Paribas Pierre Vernimmen Teaching Award
2018 Qualitative Research in Accounting and Management (QRAM) Literati Award for Outstanding Reviewer
2017 BNP Paribas Pierre Vernimmen 2017 Teaching Award Runner-Up
2016 PoetsQuant's Top "World's 40 Best B-School Profs Under the Age of 40"
2010 Hanns Seidel Foundation Scholarship for visiting research
2009 "Hanns Seidel Foundation" Scholarship