Accounting Ph.D.

Overview of Accounting Ph.D. Seminar Series

Introduction to Accounting Research
The course offers a thorough and broad-ranging introduction to accounting theory and research. It covers origins and evolution of key relevant accounting institutions, thought, paradigms and methods.

Analytical Research
The course provides a thorough and comprehensive introduction into the key economic theories underlying a significant part of contemporary cutting edge accounting research. The course is designed to be sufficiently deep to support both students intent on pursuing analytical research and at the same time broad enough that students with an empirical orientation will gain a solid foundation.

Empirical Research in Accounting
The course provides a thorough and comprehensive synthesis of empirical accounting research, covering the key “classic” papers in the major research areas, methodological issues and emerging areas within empirical accounting research.

Advanced Contemporary Accounting Research
The course provides a more advanced treatment of cutting edge, predominantly empirical accounting research. Accordingly, the course content is expected to change frequently to reflect the current state of accounting research.

For doctoral students who have chosen accounting as their area, the Ph.D. degree requirements are as follows.

1. Students must complete a review course in Quantitative Methods in the summer before the beginning of the first semester.
2. During the  first two years of the program, students must take a minimum of three doctoral-level courses per semester and preferably four courses in total per semester. The chosen courses must be approved by the area PhD  advisor.
3. The student is expected to attend at least four doctoral seminars organized in the accounting area during the student’s first two years in the Ph.D. program and additional accounting doctoral seminars as required by the student’s advisor. The student may attend the same seminar more than once upon approval by the area PhD advisor or a faculty mentor/advisor.
4. The student is expected to attend all research workshops (presentations of faculty members from other business schools that visit JGSB to present their research or internal presentations by JGSB faculty or Ph.D. students) organized in the accounting area during the student’s tenure in the Ph.D. program. The student must lead a discussion preceding the workshop with the other Ph.D. students each semester. Ph.D. students will designate a senior Ph.D. student to keep track of this requirement and provide a report to the area faculty advisor at the end of the spring semester.
5. During the summers following each of the first two years, students will complete a summer research study/paper. The scope of this work is to be determined jointly by the student and the student’s faculty mentor/ faculty advisor.
   1. The firs-year summer research work should involve a replication of analysis of a published/working paper with an extension in the area of the student’s interest. The summer study/paper must be presented to accounting faculty at a research workshop no later than September 30th in the fall semester of the second academic year. The content and format of this presentation will be determined by the student’s faculty mentor/summer research advisor. A failure to meet this deadline may result in the student being put on probation.  
   2. The second-year summer research must result in a working paper (with at least preliminary results), which must be presented to accounting faculty at a research workshop no later than November 30th in the Fall semester of the third academic year. Although we encourage solo-authored study, this summer research could be joint work with the faculty mentor/faculty advisor, but the student is expected to take the lead. A failure to meet this deadline may result in the student being put on probation.  
6. Students must pass a comprehensive exam administered by the accounting faculty at the end of the second year. Only students not on probation and with a satisfactory annual evaluation are eligible to take the comprehensive exam. The exam will be jointly administered and graded by accounting faculty, under the supervision of the accounting area advisor. The exam is focused on the coursework taken in accounting and topics covered in research workshops offered by the accounting area. A successful performance in the exam will demonstrate the student’s competency in accounting and provide the foundation from which he or she begins the research that will form the basis of the dissertation.
7. Students are expected to constitute their dissertation committee by the beginning of their fourth year in the program.
8. During the dissertation phase (post successfully completing the comprehensive exam), students are strongly encouraged to take one course every semester (from the first semester of the third year to the second semester of the fourth year) to advance their skills and knowledge in tools, techniques, and topics relevant to their area of interest/dissertation topic. Students are expected to select these courses in consultation with the area PhD advisor or faculty/dissertation advisor.
9. Students are expected to successfully defend a dissertation “pre-proposal” by the end of the Fall semester of their fourth year to their dissertation committees. The pre-proposal is expected to lay out the main thesis topic, methodology, discussion of the relevant literature, and preliminary analysis.
10. Students are expected to successfully defend their full dissertation proposal by the end of the fourth year.
11. Students are expected to complete and defend dissertation within a maximum of 7 years from time of matriculation.

Summer before the beginning of first semester

Quantitative Methods Review

Year 1 (Fall)

ECON 501Microeconomic Theory I
ECON 510 Econometrics I
BUSI 530Introduction to Accounting Research
Workshop in Statistical Computing and Research
Elective

Year 1 (Spring)

ECON 508 Microeconomics II
BUSI 532Analytical Research in Accounting
BUSI 533 Contemporary Accounting Research Topics
Workshop in Statistical Computing and Research
Elective

Year 2 (Fall)

BUSI 531 Empirical Methods in Accounting
BUSI 523Empirical Methods in Finance
Elective
Elective

Year 2 (Spring)

BUSI 532 Analytical Research in Accounting (suggested retake)
BUSI 533 Contemporary Accounting Research Topics (suggested retake)
Elective
Elective

Doctoral students may continue taking graduate-level accounting courses beyond their second year as well. Examples of elective courses are:

General:
ECON 435: Industrial Organization
ECON 511: Econometrics II
ECON 514 Industrial Organization and Control
ECON 517 Empirical Industrial Organization

Analytical Track:
BUSI 510 Analytical Models in Marketing
ECON 502 Macroeconomics
ECON 505 Financial Economics
ECON 509 Topics in Microeconomics
ECON 575 Topics in Financial Economics
MATH 321 Introduction to Analysis I
MATH 515 Integration Theory
STAT 581 Mathematical Probability
STAT 552 Applied Stochastic Processes

Empirical Track:
BUSI 522 Corporate Finance
BUSI 511 Select Topics in Marketing
BUSI 524 Finance Special Topics
BUSI 527 Finance Special Topics
ECON 309 Applied Econometrics
ECON 578 Topics in Econometrics I
ECON 579 Topics in Econometrics II: Time Series Analysis
STAT 519 Statistical Inference
STAT 541 Multivariate Analysis