  Agent-based computational economics (ACE) - while adopted comparably widely
in other domains of managerial science - is a rather novel paradigm for
management accounting research (MAR). This paper provides an overview of
opportunities and difficulties that ACE may have for research in management
accounting and, in particular, introduces a framework that researchers in
management accounting may employ when considering ACE as a paradigm for their
particular research endeavor. The framework builds on the two interrelated
paradigmatic elements of ACE: a set of theoretical assumptions on economic
agents and the approach of agent-based modeling. Particular focus is put on
contrasting opportunities and difficulties of ACE in comparison to other
research methods employed in MAR.
