Laurie L. Burney

Professional Summary

Laurie L. Burney, PhD, is an associate professor and holder of the J.E. Bush Professorship in Accounting. She recently completed a three-year term as the Institute of Management Accountants’ (IMA) Professor in Residence. In this role, she served as the liaison between IMA and the academic accounting community.

Burney is an associate editor for IMA Educational Case Journal and is on the editorial board for Behavioral Research in Accounting. She serves as vice president of the IMA Stuart Cameron McLeod Society, and a former president of the IMA Texas Regional Council. She also serves on the board for the Educational Foundation for Women in Accounting. In 2018, Burney was recognized with the IMA R. Lee Brummet Distinguished Award for Educators and the Lean Enterprise Institute’s Excellence in Lean Accounting Faculty Award. And in 2020 she received the Mark Chain/FSA Innovation in Graduate Teaching Award.

Burney teaches advanced managerial accounting courses. Her area of expertise takes a behavioral approach to investigate management control systems. She is also involved in the intersection of lean philosophy and accounting. Burney has published in highly recognized academic and practitioner journals such as Accounting, Organizations and Society, Behavioral Research in Accounting, Journal of Information Systems, and Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting, Issues in Accounting Education, Strategic Finance, and Management Accounting Quarterly. 

Burney earned her BBA from Austin Peay State University, MBA from Middle Tennessee State University and PhD from the University of Kentucky. She has earned the Certified Management Accountant, Certified in Strategy and Competitive Analysis, and CPA (TN-inactive). Prior to joining academic, Burney worked in public accounting and for a job training government administration office as a fiscal officer.

Education

• 2001 – PhD, Business Administration, Accounting Concentration, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky
• 1992 – MBA, Accounting Concentration, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee
• 1985 – BBA, Accounting Concentration, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee

Courses

• ACC 4308 – Advanced Managerial Accounting
• ACC 5308 – Management Accounting Seminar

Research Interests

• Management Control Systems
• Lean Accounting
• Behavioral

Selected Publications

• Burney, L., Radtke, R.R., & Widener, S.K. (2017). The Intersection of ‘Bad Apples,’ ‘Bad Barrels,’ and the Enabling Use of Performance Measurement Systems. Journal of Information Systems, 31 (2), 25-48.
• Burney, L., & Widener, S.K. (2013). Behavioral work outcomes of a strategic performance measurement system-based incentive plan. Behavioral Research in Accounting, 25 (2), 115-143.
• Kennedy, F.K., Burney, L., Troyer, J.L., & Stroup, J.C. (2010). Do non-profit hospitals provide more charity care when faced with a mandatory minimum standard? Evidence from Texas. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 29, 242-258.
• Burney, L., Henle, C., & Widener, S.K. (2009). A path model examining the relations among strategic performance measurement system characteristics, organizational justice, and extra- and in-role performance. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 34 (3-4), 305-321.
• Burney, L., & Widener, S.K. (2007). Strategic performance measurement systems, job-relevant information and managerial behavioral responses – role stress and performance. Behavioral Research in Accounting, 19, 43-69.