Summary by James R. Martin, Ph.D., CMA
Professor Emeritus, University of South Florida
Advice for Ph.D. Students and New Faculty |
Educations Issues Main Page
The purpose of this paper is to propose six recommendations to alleviate the accounting doctoral shortage. The problem has many dimensions including a shortage in the supply of qualified doctoral candidates, recent reductions in the size of doctoral programs in accounting, accounting faculty retirement, and the lack of funding for accounting doctoral students and programs. In addition, related problems include the increased faculty time required to mentor doctoral students, the increased costs of doctoral programs to the universities, longer program completion times and opportunity costs for doctoral students.
Recommendations include:
1. Fund a competitive research program that includes inter-institutional teams and provides competitive research grants that support doctoral students working on dissertations under the direction of faculty mentors.
2. The research grants should include financial buy-outs of faculty time to provide more capacity for doctoral seminars and the direction of doctoral students' research.
3. The research grants should also cover the overhead costs of the institutions involved.
4. To obtain access to more data accounting research teams should implement confidentiality protocols similar to those used for research with the Department of Defense.
5. Competitive stipends (including healthcare coverage) should be provided to doctoral students to offset the opportunity costs of a 4-5 year doctoral program.
6. The opportunity costs must be reduced by reducing the time required to complete the doctorate and consideration of the development of executive-type doctoral programs.
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Related articles and summaries:
AACSB International. 2003. Sustaining Scholarship in Business Schools. AACSB.
Albrecht, W. S. and R. J. Sack. 2000. Accounting Education: Charting the Course through a Perilous Future. Accounting education Series (16): American Accounting Association.
Behn, B. K., G. A. Carnes, G. W. Krull Jr., K. D. Stocks and P. M. J. Reckers. 2008. Accounting Doctoral Education - 2007 A Report of the Joint AAA/APLG/FSA Doctoral Education Committee. Issues in Accounting Education (August): 357-367.
Bergner, J. 2009. Pursuing a Ph.D. in accounting: Walking in with your eyes open: Here's how the doctoral track looks through the eyes of one student. Journal of Accountancy web-exclusive article. (Mentioned in the March issue as an AICPA resource on page 40). (JOA Link).
Beyer, B., D. Herrmann, G. K. Meek and E. T. Rapley. 2010. What it means to be an accounting professor: A concise career guide for doctoral students in accounting. Issues in Accounting Education (May): 227-244. (Summary).
Bishop, C. C., D. M. Boyle, R. R. Clune and D. R. Hermanson. 2012. A different model for doctoral education in accounting and auditing: Student and faculty reflections. Current Issues in Auditing 6(1): A1-A16. (Note).
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Meyer, M. J. and P. L. Titard. 2000. Those who can ... teach. Want to exchange your Palm Pilot for a blackboard, get a PhD and go back to college as a teacher? The time to do it is now. Journal of Accountancy. (July): 49-58. (Note).
Meyers, R. 2006. Teaching for the love of it. Journal of Accountancy (June): 30-38.
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Prather-Kinsey, J., A. Savage, S. Boyar and J. Exline. 2018. A call to practitioners: You can play a bigger role in academia and share your experience with accounting students who are hungry for real-world knowledge. Strategic Finance (August): 54-59. (Summary).
Reigle, D. 2008. Trends in the Supply of Accounting Graduates and the Demand for Public Accounting Recruits. AICPA.
Ruff, M., J. C. Thibodeau and J. C. Bedard. 2009. A profession's response to a looming shortage: Closing the gap in the supply of accounting faculty. Journal of Accountancy (March): 36-41. (JOA Link).
The Pathways Commission. 2012. The Pathways Commission on Higher Education: Charting a National Strategy for the Next Generation of Accountants. American Accounting Association and American Institute of CPAs. (Note).