Accounting and Academia

In Kelley’s accounting PhD program, you will acquire the tools necessary to create new knowledge and learn how to share that knowledge with others, preparing you for a successful career in research and teaching. Our program requires you to choose a minor field in another area of business or a field outside the Kelley School (e.g., psychology) to complement your major in accounting. Most of our students complete the program in five years.

You’ll work side by side with our renowned faculty, who are dedicated mentors, experienced teachers, and accomplished researchers. Our faculty members have served as senior editors and on the editorial boards of prestigious accounting journals. They are published frequently in leading journals such as The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Contemporary Accounting Research, Review of Accounting Studies, and Accounting, Organizations, and Society. 

The department will provide you with an annual Research and Teaching Supplement (RATS) and a travel budget to facilitate your participation in conferences. We will also provide assistance with expenses related to your dissertation.

Our numerous database subscriptions facilitate access to information about public companies and accounting firms (Audit Analytics), financial statements (Compustat), stock prices (CRSP), analyst forecasts (First Call, IBES), international markets (Global Insight), and more.

In our weekly research workshops, leading accounting researchers discuss their work with our faculty and doctoral students. You’ll attend lunch with the speakers, and also have the opportunity to present your own research.

We offer two paths of study:

• Empirical archival/capital markets focuses on the role of accounting information and auditing in the capital markets. Students in this path typically minor in finance.
• Experimental/behavioral focuses on how individuals use and are influenced by accounting information in decision making. Students in this path typically minor in psychology.

Our degree requirements include course work, two self-selected research assignments to be completed in your first two summers in the program, a qualifying exam, participation in our research workshops, and a dissertation. You will also be required to do a limited amount of teaching in order to prepare you for your classroom responsibilities.