The Accounting Doctoral Program Individuals in the public and private sectors rely heavily on accounting information during decision-making processes. A field with far-reaching influence, accounting requires users to understand and apply economics, finance, behavioral science, decision theory, and statistical methods. The Accounting curriculum demands interdisciplinary training that prepares individuals to interpret a wide variety of data, design and execute quality research in a specific area, and teach within the accounting discipline. Although broad-based in scope, the Accounting major field area is by nature quantitative. Experience has shown that students with a strong quantitative background enjoy the most success in this area.
Courses taken during the first two years of the program provide a strong research foundation.
Finance, mathematics, and probability and statistics courses required by the Accounting area can be used to fulfill the Doctoral Program's overall breadth and research course requirements. The course work helps develop the ability to understand, integrate, and conduct accounting research. Students are required to enroll in Management 229X, 229Y, and 229Z, a workshop series in which leading scholars present papers on issues relevant to the field. Through active participation and intellectual interchange, students develop the ability to critically evaluate current research in accounting. After successful completion of the major field examination, the student must meet the Doctoral Program research paper requirement and then design and execute a dissertation that makes a contribution to the accounting field.