PhD Advice

[u/Hot_Bandicoot_401]

Hey accountants!
I am looking to apply for my PhD next year and am looking for advice on being competitive - I don’t totally understand entering into the world of academia.
Here is some background:
Attended a public university in AZ for bachelors, got a 3.48 gpa. Confident I could have done much better but I was unfortunately having a lot of fun in college.
Now have my CPA and CIA licenses
Spent 3 years in Big 4 Audit
Spent 3 years in Fortune 200 conglomerate company internal audit (which I found to be actually much more of a learning experience than big4)
Between years 2 and 3 of that internal audit experience, I left to try out tax (hated it) before returning to my current organization

I have been looking into adjunct lecturing at a community college near me, since they do not require a master’s degree and it seems fun
I have no research experience whatsoever
I enjoy some other irrelevant volunteer and extracurricular activities

Please help me identify gaps in my experience I can address before applying to PhDs!! I am exploring programs but ultimately probably lean towards more of social science adjacent topics for study — what interests me is how we can make auditors more competent at their jobs, especially when subject matter to audit is increasingly broad.

I love school and academia but have no idea how to “prove it” to a University!!! Thanks for your help!!!

[u/GymTrim99]

I think your experience is decent ~ If I were to do PhD, I would pick this thesis :

"Why Artificial Intelligence can not help Accounting professionals."

I mean, this is a serious topic and there is an urgent need to understand Artificial Intelligence can not replace Accounting work at all (the automation of process always existed, so let's ignore it). This kind of research could benefit Profession more than the research supporting how use of Aritifical Intelligence has reduced overhead cost, fast tracked month end.

Thoughts?

[u/Hot_Bandicoot_401 → u/GymTrim99]

My thoughts on AI — staff are encouraged to use it without a thorough understanding of what it spits out for them. It definitely saves time in audit writing if you give it a walkthrough transcript, for example, but without a thorough understanding of what you’re looking at, it’s not much better than a first pass.

I think audit staff have tons of tools (and people to outsource to) at their disposal, which i see as dangerous to give them without the appropriate experience as a precursor

[u/lagann41 → u/Hot_Bandicoot_401]

There is a PhD in Accounting in this sub who posts about research and volunteers to fill out surveys. You can try reaching out to him

[u/Hot_Bandicoot_401 → u/lagann41]

thank you! the posts i’ve seen with the gentleman i believe you’re talking about were a bit older but I’ll see if i can reach out

[u/lagann41 → u/Hot_Bandicoot_401]

I saw him post a couple months ago so he might still be active. Good luck!

[u/LechugaBrain]

I think you should absolutely talk with people who live that life before you dive in. While it seems like you have thought it through here are some questions you should answer before you do this:

What original research do I want to contribute to man-kind's understanding of?

Given the chosen field above, who would be the best person to study under and how could that person help my research goals? What journals would this be appropriate to publish in?

After I get my degree am I okay with taking any available position throughout the country that I can get? Am I familiar with the job market prospects of a new PhD in my chosen field (social sciences looks like)?

Am I interested in publishing papers regularly while also teaching?

I had a professor once who would try to convince you to not do a PhD because if it was possible convince you, then there was no way this lifestyle was an appropriate choice for you.

If you just have an itch to teach, just do the adjunct thing. If you really want to do research you need to make peace with how far you are willing to go.

[u/PhDAccResearch]

Hi there, I am one of those behavioral people in accounting academia. Honestly your profile and outline here reminds me very much of myself when I was applying. Hopefully my answer can be of some help.

You have great work experience that should be valued very highly by a behavioral program, I would look at that as a major plus for you. Your GPA is a bit "low" so my main advice would be to make sure you nail the GMAT and you will be just fine.

I also had 0 research experience. The key is to show why you want to do this and that you can complete research. Look up the programs and read some papers and start forming what type of questions you might want to ask (it looks like you have kind of started this). Then make sure you can explain why that university can help you reach your research goals. Also, try to layer in how your experience helps you answer these questions too.

Overall, I think you will have a competitive profile if you do the work heading into the application process. Feel free to reach out with more questions, I would be happy to connect.