Addressing the Shortage of Accounting PhD Faculty

By Kimberly Scott, WSCPA Director of Member Services

The Issue

During the past decade, approximately 100 or fewer PhDs in accounting were granted annually. This is a decrease of 50% compared to PhDs awarded during the 1980s and 1990s. At the same time student enrollments in accounting programs continued to climb. For the four-year period 2000 to 2004, enrollments were up 19% (to 171,000 in 2004). These trends mean the supply of PhDs will not meet the demand at the college level. One of the key barriers to experienced accountants who might otherwise pursue a PhD is the financial impact of leaving a lucrative position and incurring substantial debt to continue their education.

In 2008 the AICPA launched the Accounting Doctoral Scholars (ADS) program with the goal of providing scholarships for up to 120 PhD candidates. Because PhDs generally accept teaching positions in a school other than the one from which they received their degree, managing and funding this type of program at a national level, with AICPA leadership, makes sense. By selecting the best candidates nationally, the entire profession will benefit from the influx of new doctoral candidates and PhDs. A total of $16.5 million dollars has been committed to this program from 69 firms and 39 state societies. The Washington CPA Foundation has pledged support of $50,000 over five years. The four year program will accept 30 participants each year and provide each participant with an annual scholarship of $30,000.

Ryan Adams is one of this year’s ADS program participants, and is pursuing his PhD at the University of Washington.

Ryan is already busy taking classes, but he did take the time to answer a few questions.

Q: Tell Washington CPAs a bit about you. Where are you from?

A: My wife, two sons, and I moved to Washington from Salt Lake City. I grew up in El Paso, Texas. My wife and I have been married for 3 1/2 years.

Q: What did you do prior to enrolling in this program?

A: I worked for KPMG (audit) for three years and a not-for-profit organization (LDS Church internal audit) for over a year.

Q: What motivated you to change fields and go into education?

A: I’ve always been curious about what motivates individuals to do certain things. As such, the research aspect of academia appeals to me. Also, my favorite job up to this point in my life was running a tutoring lab for accounting courses during grad school. It was gratifying to help students understand material that I find interesting and relevant. I’m excited to mentor students and help them see how important accounting is to our economy.

Q: How did you find out about the AICPA ADS program?

A: One of my colleagues at KPMG brought it up over lunch.

Q: What hopes do you have for your future from here?

A: I hope to add value to the profession through useful research, as well as effective teaching/mentoring in the classroom. First and foremost, however, I hope to be a good husband and father.

Q: What was the ADS application process like?

A: It required a pretty significant time investment. Most schools typically require interviews before admission into the program. Also, writing the essay helped me flesh out my ideas, and really define why I wanted to pursue a career in academia.

Q: What advice would you give to someone considering this program, or teaching in general?

A: While teaching is an important part of what you will do in academia, understand that a PhD in Accounting is a research degree. You are rewarded in this business based on your ability to conduct and publish interesting research. Be sure to read many research papers about topics you are interested in before investing in the application process. I can give you an update later in my program (I’m barely beginning).

We look forward to updates from Ryan over the next four years. In the meantime, we hope you will help the Washington CPA Foundation meet this and other funding objectives by making a contribution at www.wscpa.org.

The Washington CPA Foundation

As a WSCPA member, each year you are invited to donate to the Foundation on your dues statement. About 400 members contribute a total of about $30,000 a year. These donations, plus additional contributions by the WSCPA, fund 20 scholarships of $2,000 each to eligible students in Washington State and, as noted above, a $10,000 per year commitment to the ADS program.

The Washington CPA Foundation has recently set new goals. These include increasing the amount of each student scholarship to $3,000, continuing its
support of the ADS program, and adding funding in support of financial literacy projects.

As astute accountants, you have undoubtedly observed that the Foundation is not generating sufficient revenue to meet its current contributions, much less the expanded ones. To balance the budget, the Foundation is also launching a program to increase awareness and recognize donor contributions to the Foundation’s success. In addition, the Foundation will be providing special thanks and recognition to donors who make more substantial donations. While all contributors will be part of this program, "Circle" level donors, who contribute $250 or more during 2009 will be invited to a special reception at the Rainier Club in January. Attendees at this invitation-onlyxevent will have the opportunity to network with each other, the Foundation Trustees, and scholarship winners—including Ryan Adams.

To learn about the other promising students receiving scholarships this year, check out the student website, www.discovercpa.org (click Scholarships).

To make a difference in the future of the profession, support the Foundation online in the Community section of this website.  Click Support the WSCPA, or ask the WSCPA office for a donation envelope.

Source:  WashingtonCPA November/December 2009

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