A Profession's Response to a Looming Shortage: Closing the Gap in the Supply of Accounting Faculty

Abstract

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY * A looming shortage exists in the academic world of accounting as many accounting professors retire and new instructors are needed. The AICPA, along with other groups and professional services firms, offers assistance to accountants interested in future careers in academia. * The Accounting Doctoral Scholars Program (ADS), administered by the AICPA Foundation, was recently established by 67 of the largest accounting firms, along with the support of state societies. Designed to encourage audit and tax professionals to pursue a career as a professor, the ADS Program intends to award 30 four-year scholarships during each of the next four years. * Other financial assistance is available to Ph.D. students in accounting to supplement stipends provided by universities. While these stipends are low relative to accounting salaries, universities generally waive tuition for doctoral study, since most students serve as graduate assistants. Accounting faculty earn competitive salaries, providing a reasonable payback period of the investment for the CPA. * More opportunities are also expected to open up for professionally qualified instructors. Professionally qualified instructors are not Ph.D.s but have extensive professional accounting experience. An AICPA/ American Accounting Association program offers assistance in making such a career change. ********** [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] For some time, leaders of the accounting profession have been concerned about an impending shortage of accounting professors, particularly in the audit and tax specializations. A recent analysis co-sponsored by the AICPA and the American Accounting Association reveals that between 500 and 700 accounting faculty per year will retire over the next 10 years, while accounting Ph.D. programs are averaging 140 graduates per year. About 40% of those graduates, moreover, are foreign nationals who might not remain in the U.S. to teach. Despite this trend, there is good news. First, the major demand for faculty is in audit and tax, which happen to be the leading areas of specialization for practicing CPAs. Second, the CPA profession, led by more than 66 of the largest CPA firms and joined by more than 36 state societies and the AICPA Foundation, has begun the Accounting Doctoral Scholars Program (ADS) to encourage practicing audit and tax professionals to consider a career as an accounting professor. Third, additional resources are available from the AICPA Foundation and the foundations of some professional services firms to help enable doctoral students to make an investment in becoming a faculty member. In this article, we outline the process of obtaining a Ph.D. in accounting, the rewards of the academic accounting profession and the resources available to help professionals achieve that goal. DOCTORAL EDUCATION IN ACCOUNTING The two basic types of accounting faculty, academically qualified (AQ) and professionally qualified (PQ), are derived from accreditation standards developed by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Most full-time accounting faculty are AQ, which generally requires a Ph.D. in accounting, although some colleges and universities consider law degrees the terminal degree for some disciplines, such as taxation. Recognizing that the mission of universities is to both create and disseminate knowledge, universities and colleges require AQ faculty to produce research relevant to their discipline. Ph.D. programs in accounting are designed to mentor students in how to be high-quality researchers. As a result, the programs are rigorous and usually take at least four years to complete. Usually, after two to three years of coursework, the student prepares a dissertation. During the doctoral program, students are typically funded with stipends by their universities and work as teaching and/or research assistants, for which their tuition is waived. …

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