The Accounting Concentration
Philosophy and Objectives:
The Ph.D. Program in Accounting at the University of Massachusetts offers the opportunity to engage in scholarly academic research and university teaching. The program is designed to help highly motivated individuals develop the skills and abilities essential to a successful career in academia. Our faculty believes that academic excellence demands more than the integration of existing knowledge and theory into the teaching curriculum. It also demands a commitment to academic research. Accordingly, the primary goal of doctoral candidates in Accounting should be to make scholarly contributions to their field of interest through both teaching and publication. The Ph.D. program is designed to facilitate achievement of this goal by providing courses in accounting, research methods, statistics, and other related disciplines that are essential to conducting rigorous academic research.
Degree Requirements:
Course Work: The program of study, which includes course work and the completion of a doctoral dissertation, can generally be completed in approximately four years.
Students must take a minimum of 45 credits of course work in research methodology, statistics, major and minor area courses at the graduate level.
The first year of course work is designed primarily to help students develop a foundation in both general research methods and accounting research. Students typically take six to eight courses that cover general research design, the use of statistical tools for data analysis, and issues specifically related to accounting research.
After the first year, students concentrate on major and minor area seminars. Major area seminars include Behavioral Research in Accounting, Security Market Research, and either Advanced Readings in Behavioral Research or Advanced Readings in Security Market Research. In addition, students take a Directed Research in Accounting course, where they design and conduct a research project that is of publishable quality.
Students also take three minor area courses. The minor area is selected depending upon the student's research interest. For example, students interested in behavioral research often select a psychology minor, and students interested in security markets research typically minor in finance or economics.
First Year Courses
| Fall Semester SOM 804 - Research Methods Statistical Methods (select three) STAT 515 - Probability & Statistics I PSYCH 640 - Statistical Inference I EDUC 771 - Multivariate Statistic I BIOEPI 741 - Design and Analysis of Experiments PSYCH 642 - Regression and Correlation STAT 505 - Regression and ANOVA Spring Semester SOM 734 - Accounting Theory Statistical Methods (select two) STAT 516 - Probability & Statistics II PSYCH 640 - Statistical Inference I EDUC 771 - Multivariate Statistic I REC 702 - Econometric Methods SOM 805 - Multivariate Methods for Business Research |
Second Year Courses
| Fall Semester SOM 895B - Behavioral Research in Accounting SOM 895C - Security Market Research Spring Semester SOM 895S - Advanced Readings in Security Market Research or SOM 895D - Advanced Readings in Behavioral Research in Accounting SOM 895T - Directed Research in Accounting Minor Area Course |
Third Year Courses
| Fall Semester Minor Area Courses (2) Elective Course Behavioral Research in Accounting or Security Market Research (audit depending upon concentration) Spring Semester Advanced Readings in Security Market Research or Advanced Readings in Behavioral Research in Accounting (audit depending upon concentration) |
Other Requirements:
Examinations: Students must pass a qualifying examination in the Accounting area at the end of the third semester. In addition, after satisfactorily completing all course work, students must pass a comprehensive examination in their major and minor areas.
Dissertation (Ph.D. Thesis): After successfully completing the comprehensive examination, the student must propose, conduct, and defend a piece of original research, under the guidance of a dissertation committee. The committee is typically comprised of four professors with a record of scholarly publication in an area relevant to the student's dissertation. A student first submits a dissertation proposal to the committee. Once the proposal is approved, the student conducts the research and defends the completed dissertation before the committee.
Graduates in the Field:
Graduates of the University's Ph.D. program in Accounting have pursued academic careers at Michigan State, Duke, Penn State, Boston College, Northeastern, Washington State, University of Texas, Boston University, Drexel, University of South Carolina, University of Connecticut, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, and other major state and private universities throughout the country.
To be successful at major universities, faculty must not only be excellent teachers, they must also publish rigorous academic research. As a consequence, an important measure of the quality of a Ph.D. program is the success of its graduates in research and publication.
Graduates of the UMass program are active contributors to leading research journals. In fact, a review of the publication activity of Ph.D. graduates indicated that UMass was fourth in the nation (after Rochester, Stanford and Cornell) in terms of the percentage of graduates who have published in Accounting and Finance journals (refers to schools with over ten graduates - in “A Comprehensive Examination of Accounting Faculty Publishing,” by Zivney, T., Bertin, W., and Gavin, T., Issues in Accounting Education, Vol. 10, No. 1, p. 1).
Importantly, the majority of our recent graduates have published their dissertations or subsequent research in the most prestigious research journals of the field (i.e., Journal of Accounting Research and The Accounting Review). The ability to publish in these top-tier journals is essential to a successful career at major research universities. In addition, our graduates have published in leading Psychology and Finance journals. Two of our students have also won the outstanding dissertation award from the Accounting, Behavior, and Organizations section of the American Accounting Association. This level of success compares very favorably with major Ph.D. programs in the country.
Given the established history of our program (in operation for over 30 years), our graduates have also achieved considerable success in areas outside of research. For example, in addition to holding chaired research positions, our graduates have served as department chair or dean at universities worldwide, and have taken active roles in professional accounting organizations.
To receive an application, or answers to general administrative questions, e-mail our Program Office at phdsom@som.umass.edu.
Questions specifically related to the accounting concentration may be sent to Professor Thomas Kida, Accounting Doctoral Coordinator.