Research Inspired by Everyday Questions

In a seminar for the discipline known as management accounting, we approach how people behave within companies and organizations from an accounting perspective. Professor Masuya, is that correct?

That's correct (laughs). I think we constantly live and work within organizations where people’s goals and expectations do not always align. For example, a manager who wants to grow the company versus an employee who wants to slack off a little.

They aren't working with the exact same mindset. Within that context, management accounting involves thinking about how people will act, setting sales and profit targets, and using accounting to manage things by checking and evaluating progress.

Professor Masuya thinks seriously about each and every seminar student. I decided to go to graduate school, and the professor encouraged me, saying, "If you’re interested, you should give it a try." which was the catalyst for deciding my career path. He is a teacher who truly values dialogue and consultation.

Yamamoto-kun is very open-minded and eager to learn. When you continue research like I do, while your knowledge increases, your perspective can sometimes become a bit "clouded." That is why I, too, can learn from Yamamoto-kun’s fresh perspective.

Even for you, Professor, that happens?

It does. There are things that can only be found because of a student's fresh perspective.

A student in the seminar once hypothesized that a particular organizational unit involved in management accounting might be taking on a new role. Based on my experience, "Most likely, such a role hasn't emerged yet." However, when we actually went to conduct a corporate survey, a lot of information I didn't know yet came out, and it perfectly matched the students' hypothesis. I felt that there are things you can reach precisely because you conduct research with such fresh eyes.

I also learned after joining the seminar that everyday questions can be turned into research themes. When I was washing the car at my parents' house, I thought, "It's okay if I'm a bit sloppy because my father will check it later," but at the same time, I also felt, "I have to do it properly because it's being checked." From those two emotions, I wondered what would happen if I applied that to corporate "double-checks," and made it my research theme.

It's interesting how research starts from that kind of "why?", isn't it?

For me, Professor Masuya is both someone who guides me in my research and someone I feel very comfortable talking to. In the seminar, he is strict about logic, but outside the seminar, we can talk and consult like friends.

I also feel like I am being taught by Yamamoto-kun. In particular, I always try to ask myself if I am practicing the advice I give to students. If I say, "Make the explanation simpler," I think about how my own research measures up. I don't just tell the students; I practice it myself. By valuing the consistency between words and actions, I feel every day that teaching is benefiting me as well.