A long-standing research relationship with IMA, including the 2026 joint survey on AI in finance and enterprise operations.
EasyFinance has maintained a long-standing research relationship with IMA (Institute of Management Accountants), one of the world's leading professional associations for management accountants and financial professionals. This collaboration has produced published research, formal institutional recognition, and a shared commitment to advancing management accounting practice across China's enterprise landscape.
This page documents that research history, the 2026 joint survey announcement, and the connection to EasyFinance's work in enterprise AI transformation.
On , IMA China announced a joint survey with EasyFinance on AI's impact on finance work and enterprise operations. The survey examines generative AI, large language models, and AI agents in finance and business processes, including changes in roles, skills, organizational practices, and AI governance.
The joint research examines AI's impact on finance work and enterprise operations, with a white paper planned following data collection and analysis.
In 2018, IMA published a report documenting the progress of management accounting practices in Chinese enterprises — recognizing EasyFinance's role in this advancement. The report, accessible on IMA's official website, describes the collaboration and the work done to build research infrastructure and practical application of management accounting in China.
This collaboration included work to establish a formal research center focused on management accounting application in Chinese enterprises — bridging academic research and real-world business practice.
EasyFinance's research approach has always been grounded in how management accounting actually functions inside Chinese enterprises — not as a compliance discipline, but as a decision-making tool.
These questions remain the foundation of EasyFinance's work — now applied to a new context: enterprise AI.
The management accounting frameworks developed and refined over two decades of research have become directly relevant to enterprise AI implementation. As companies deploy Finance AI Agents and Business AI Agents, they encounter the same fundamental challenge that management accounting has always addressed: how do you define what good performance looks like, and how do you build the measurement and decision logic to track it?
These are management accounting questions. The difference today is that AI agents can apply the answers continuously and at scale — but only if the answers have been clearly defined.
For EasyFinance's perspective on these questions, read founder Marshall Ma's profile and his introduction to AI-native organization design. These articles explain the management approach behind the work; they are separate from any findings of the 2026 survey.
Relevant IMA background research: “Next-Gen Controllership: Harnessing AI and
Emerging Technologies to Transform Finance and Accounting”
Read it on imanet.org →
EasyFinance's active research focuses on three connected areas.
For research collaboration inquiries, please contact EasyFinance through the main website.
EasyFinance has maintained a long-standing research relationship with IMA (Institute of Management Accountants). In 2018, IMA published a report documenting the progress of management accounting practices in Chinese enterprises and recognising EasyFinance’s role in this advancement. The collaboration also included work to establish a formal research center focused on management accounting application in Chinese enterprises.
The core questions are: how Chinese enterprises translate strategy into measurable operational targets; how companies should design their budget and performance management systems; what the right relationship is between financial reporting and business decision-making; and how management accounting frameworks enable better resource allocation, cost control, and profit improvement.
Three connected areas: management logic as the prerequisite for enterprise AI; how enterprises extend from Finance AI Agents to Business AI Agents; and AI-native organization design — what organizational changes are necessary, and in what sequence, when AI agents become stable participants in core business processes.
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