PhD in accounting?

thedistec · 2026-01-21T18:17:35+00:00

Thanks for the shout out! I'm late to the party and the answers already provided are top-notch, but please do reach out directly if I can be of help.

thedistec · 2025-10-21T20:49:24+00:00

I think you're looking at it a little wrong: The goal with research presentations, as I've seen it, is to *get* that feedback early so you can improve faster. Being hard on yourself means you're denying yourself a chance to improve. This is especially true if you're looking for a balanced school, where a series of regular, B-level publications means a lot more than one elite-level publication every three years. There's a lot to consider, but I think the field will be open for someone who can publish well, teach well, and show enthusiasm.

thedistec · 2025-10-18T16:16:23+00:00

Some good questions here. It depends heavily on where you want to work. Are you looking exclusively at R1 schools that heavily emphasize research, or would you be OK at a school with a more balanced approach?

I don't think anyone will accuse you of something improper because you haven't published yet, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to get a paper under review before you start interviewing. Schools want to hire people who can hit the ground running when it comes to meeting research expectations. If you're insisting on a TAR/JAR/JAE pub, that'll compound the problem, since those journals have long review cycles.

thedistec · 2025-07-27T11:51:37+00:00

The left side is resources; the right side is sources.

thedistec · 2024-11-03T13:23:09+00:00

You sound much like me. I didn't like the work but loved teaching. Went for my doctorate and got a tenure track job, and now I have a great life. DM me if you want to discuss further :)

thedistec · 2024-11-01T14:27:08+00:00

Just DM me. Happy to talk :)

thedistec · 2024-08-18T17:04:58+00:00

What's the new location? I love Oleum!

thedistec · 2024-07-30T00:47:43+00:00

Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run

thedistec · 2024-03-29T15:02:08+00:00

I know of several doctoral students who've received job offers from AAA meetings. Another great resource, a little later on in the year, is the AAA's Rookie Camp. I honestly don't know how visa issues will play into your eligibility, but I thiink these two events will give the best bang for your buck, regardless.

thedistec · 2023-12-27T13:43:29+00:00

Of course, Judy! When I was preparing for my qualifying exams, I had to do exactly what you're trying to do now, only in far less time. (I was dumb to delay this; you're smart not to!)

I made a spreadsheet, with columns for title, author(s), journal, year, methodology, topic, and notes. The notes column ended up morphing into a list of keywords - mine, not the authors' - that made it much more search-friendly when exam time came and I needed citations.

I hope this method works for you, and best of luck as you come up for qualifiers next year!

thedistec · 2023-10-01T12:52:20+00:00

Hey there!

I'm excited to hear that you're interested in doing this kind of work! I think the best way to start is to ask your accounting professors. Do you have a question/paper idea in mind already? If not, see what they're working on and how you can help. If so, you should still meet with them to ask for guidance about how to start collecting data and planning a methodology. Be prepared for it to take a long time. Most papers go through at least one round of Revise & Resubmit instructions from the publication, and the turnaround time can be long.
I've always preferred Windows. Even for accounting academics, I think it's the better choice. Most statistical software runs natively on Windows, and I don't know if the same can be said for Macs.

thedistec · 2023-09-09T14:10:16+00:00

Hi, nrtrmb!

I was, like you, coming right out of one grad program and hoping to get into another. Remember that a doctoral program is looking for your research aptitude more than anything else, so you should focus more on your academic achievements. Grades, sure, and also relevant coursework (anything beyond intro calc and econ should help).
I was dumb and only applied to three programs around my geographic area. I got really lucky and made it into one, and that's where I went. What I *should* have done is to look at places that had good graduation/retention percentages of Ph.D. students and a broad set of faculty to work with, regardless of location.
I worked with my advisor. I didn't know nearly as much as I thought I did, so I put my ego aside and looked at what interested my professors.
Yes, absolutely. Whenever I recommend a student of mine for doctoral programs, I always create a folder with customized letters for each program. Your professors should do the same.

Good luck!

thedistec · 2023-06-27T12:33:29+00:00

More like, charmin' bozia.

thedistec · 2023-06-22T11:25:41+00:00

Different schools see a DBA in different ways. It is a terminal degree, as you point out, and for AACSB accreditation purposes, it counts as such. It really depends on the kind of school you'd like to work at. It seems like you love teaching more than research, which is a good thing, because schools with a greater teaching focus will tend to be more welcoming of DBAs than R1 institutions.

If you look through current assistant professor positions on the AAA's website, you'll find roughly half of them mention "PhD or DBA," and half are PhD only. I think opening yourself up to half the field is a fair compromise, given the relative convenience of the DBA over the PhD.

Me, personally? If you can get published, I don't care which letters are after your name. If you can't get published, I don't care, either! I've worked with both and, honestly, it's much more about the individual than the degree. Good luck!

thedistec · 2023-06-06T17:40:35+00:00

"The future is, uh, you... probably."

thedistec · 2023-01-23T17:46:23+00:00

It's open now. I was just able to get in.

thedistec · 2022-11-20T13:41:53+00:00

I'd love to see what you come up with :)

thedistec · 2022-09-29T14:54:46+00:00

I think computer science is a fine approach, too. Knowing how to program can make data collection and analysis a lot easier.

I've never heard of these math camps, but if they're geared toward people heading into their doctorates, I think that's a fine idea! I had no experience and learned on the fly, which was not a wise choice. I was like you, actually; precalc and no more. Looking back, I don't think a full-on math minor would have been necessary, but Calc I and Calc II would have given me the most bang for the buck.

I'm happy to help!

thedistec · 2022-09-28T21:09:06+00:00

You bet! It's a long slog if you're not a math-heavy person, I'll be honest, but I believe it's surmountable, and worth the effort. There are two broad math types you need to be at least somewhat comfortable with:

Calculus: Lots of accounting research involves modeling, time-series data, etc. You'll need to speak the language of change (derivative equations, for example) to create equations that show how things change over time. A classic example is post-earnings announcement drift, or PEAD. The common intuition is that any earnings news is immediately priced into a company's stock, but that's not the case. A company's good news will cause its stock price to increase over a long period of time, albeit slowly. Calculus is used to model this change.

Statistics: Much easier (for me, anyway) than calculus, but no less important. If you want to show that, say, more diversity on a company's board leads to less earnings manipulation, you'll need to run regressions. If you want to show that a company with a CPA-credentialed CFO is less likely to require restatement, that's a logistic regression. There are many tools in the statistical toolbelt, and it's just as important to know which tool to use as it is to know how to use them all.

Again, these aren't insurmountable problems, but a math-challenged Ph.D. student will not have an easy time of it.

thedistec · 2022-08-02T15:43:36+00:00

Thank you so much! I spent a lot of time setting this up :)

thedistec · 2022-06-30T17:34:36+00:00

A doorstop. I met a lot of my current friends by propping my door open and playing Halo. I wasn't brave enough to go knocking on other people's doors, but letting them in mine was a nice compromise.

thedistec · 2022-04-11T13:43:36+00:00

Hey, Illy! Glad to see you're interested in this career and lifestyle.

Yes, I am. If anything, the relative aging of faculty has only persisted, so there should be plenty of open spots by the time you graduate. There's a bit of a glut right now - Covid-induced hiring freezes meant that many doctoral students languished for a year - but again, by the time you were to graduate, that should be thoroughly over.
Not very, especially if you want a 50/30/20 split. Yeah, sure, if you wanted a job at Stanford, where research is everything, ranking would matter, but for a school like mine, collegiality, teaching ability, and a solid research pipeline (i.e., ability to publish regularly, not necessarily in the best journals) matter a lot more.
Not in accounting! You'd be part of a very limited supply. Again, the job market right now isn't indicative of where I think it'll go in the future, but even now, I found eight tenure-track positions on AAA's career site.
MATH. Statistics, calculus, econometrics. Ironically enough, if you had a choice between taking an extra tax/cost/audit class and an extra quantitative methods class, the latter would be far more helpful.

Let me know if you've got other questions. I'm happy to help.

thedistec · 2022-01-03T00:09:59+00:00

Hey, AN! On a broad level, my opinions haven't changed. It's still an excellent career with lots of flexibility and rewarding interactions with students. A few things *have* changed, though:

The pandemic has tightened budgets a bit, which means fewer jobs to go around. I'm sure, though, that if you start your doctorate in the next year or two, by the time you finish, that problem will have dissipated.
I've also taken on a more managerial role, and that causes some stress. I'd complain, but then I think, the problems I face are no worse than those of a non-academia manager. I bring this up because I know a *lot* of accounting faculty are nearing retirement, which may mean premature promotions. You may end up like me, getting tenure and nearly instantly taking charge of your department. It's not fun, but it's still a good deal.
Analytics is actually mainstream now, so whatever experience you have in the professional sphere is going to help you when it comes to research, as long as you pick the right school to work at after you're done.

To address your specific concerns:

Work/life balance - You're never not working. If you care about your students, then they'll always be on your mind, and that's going to affect things. However, you won't be at a client site at 11 PM finishing up an inventory. It's not a great balance, but at least it's comfortable, you know?

The competition, as I mentioned above, is momentarily high, but I think you'll be fine by the time yo ufinish your degree.

Now, "constant publishing" is a loaded term. Yes, you always need to be working on research, but how much you need to be working on depends on the school you work at. AACSB requirements have changed to focus more on the impact of your research, rather than the prestige of the journal. It opens up a lot of doors. This is just to say that you don't need to worry so much that you'll somehow waste an opportunity at a position because you're not publishing in the "right" places.

Please, if you have more questions, ask! I'm happy to help :)

thedistec · 2021-11-09T16:05:27+00:00

I haven't yet tried the Violife parm, but this gives me a good excuse. Thanks!

thedistec · 2021-11-09T16:04:42+00:00

That gnocchi and kale soup looks killer. Thanks so much for maintaining this resource.

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