Procedure

1. Initial Contact

In order to write your Master's thesis at our institute, you must have successfully completed the ACM 05/06 seminar module and provide proof of this on your transcript of record. However, it does not matter whether you have taken the seminar at our institute or another chair or institute at the Accounting Centre or whether you have had it credited abroad.

During your studies, you are welcome to use our overview of past Master's thesis topics completed at our institute to gain an overview of potential topics. Then use our online form to signal your interest in a potential Master's thesis at our institute.

A Master's thesis can generally be carried out in cooperation with a company. However, this requires contacting the institute at an early stage before registering the thesis in order to agree on the content and organizational framework. The contact details of a specific contact person in the company must be provided. It is advisable to discuss a topic with the company and then submit it to the institute as a topic proposal (as described below). The topic will ultimately be determined by the institute, in consultation with the specified contact person if necessary. Company partners have no say in the evaluation, and any contractual agreements are irrelevant for examination purposes. 

2. Registration with the Examination Office

The binding registration of the Master's thesis is usually done directly at the examination office. There you will find further general information on writing your Master's thesis.

Below you will find an overview of the deadlines for the binding registration of the Master's thesis at the examination office and at our institute, depending on the issue period of the thesis:

3. Kick-Off & Topic Discussion

About 4–6 weeks before your desired start quarter, a voluntary kick-off meeting will take place via Zoom. During this session, information about the process of your thesis will be explained, and you will have the opportunity to ask questions regarding the procedure of your final thesis.

After this meeting, you may contact your supervisor to discuss the topic of your thesis. If you propose your own topic, you should send a brief outline to your supervisor in the form of a one-page A4 document. This should include a short description of the proposed topic, the intended approach/methodology, and 2–3 relevant literature references.

4. Official Start of the Master's Thesis

After acceptance at our institute and successful registration at the examination office, the processing time for your Master's thesis begins with the digital submission of the signed "guiding card" to your supervisor. You can find further information on completing the guiding card here. 

You can determine the exact date for collection and submission using the processing time calculator.