JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS

2021, VOL. 96, NO. 3, 167–175

https://doi.org/10.1080/08832323.2020.1789834

ORIGINAL AND APPLIED RESEARCH

The accounting faculty shortage: Understanding masters of accounting

students’ interest in pursuing careers as accounting professors
Abbie Daly and Jill Weber
Accounting, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Whitewater, WI, USA

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
A shortage of accounting Ph.D.s exists in academia. In this study, we explore accounting Accounting Ph.D.; doctoral
masters students’ perceptions of Ph.D. study and academic careers. We administered a sur- program; faculty
vey before and after discussing academia during class. We find that students are unin- shortage; recruiting
formed about Ph.D. programs and academic careers, but their understanding improves after
class discussion. We also find that students’ interest in becoming professors is positively
associated with both their understanding of and expected enjoyment from research. This
finding, along with our finding that students have concerns about performing research, sug-
gests that to address the shortage of accounting Ph.D.s, steps must be taken to increase
the attractiveness of research.

Introduction many Ph.D. programs do not require work experience,

A critical shortage of accounting Ph.D.s exists today.
The shortage was identified by Plumlee et al. in 2006
and continues to persist (Baker & Wick, 2020; Boyle,
Carpenter, & Hermanson, 2015; Cardwell, Cardwell,
Norris, & Forrest, 2019; Conteh & Oke, 2019; Plumlee
& Reckers, 2014; Prescott, Noland, & Vann, 2017;
Simms & West, 2019). While the shortage’s causes,
consequences, and potential solutions have been dis-
cussed by the profession, more progress remains to be
made. In this study, we explore masters of accounting
students’ perceptions of Ph.D. study and careers in
accounting academia.
Masters of accounting students represent a pool of
potential Ph.D. applicants that are accessible to
accounting professors, however, evidence suggests
these students are not receiving information or
encouragement to seek Ph.D.s (Plumlee & Reckers,
2014). Therefore, we measure masters students’ per-
ceptions before and after spending class time discus-
sing accounting academia to ascertain whether class
can be used to inform students about Ph.D. study,
dispel misconceptions about academia, and encourage
students to pursue Ph.D.s. We find that before the
discussion, students are uninformed about academia.
For example, they do not understand that most ten-
ure-track positions require a terminal degree, that
or that Ph.D. students often receive financial support.
They also underestimate salaries and misidentify pro-
fessors’ service activities. After class discussion, stu-
dents are more likely to answer questions on these
topics correctly, suggesting that class time can be suc-
cessfully used to increase their understanding of
the career.
We also poll students on their interest in pursuing
a careers as professors, and find that few are inter-
ested. The main reason that students cite for being
uninterested is they find research unappealing. This
suggests that for the profession to address the short-
age of Ph.D.s, steps must be taken to increase the
attractiveness of research. Other reasons for students’
disinterest include not being interested in pursuing
the career at the current time, the additional years of
school required, concerns about teaching, a lack of
overall fit, and concerns about Ph.D. admissions.
Literature review
Prior literature highlights factors that contribute to
the shortage of accounting Ph.D.s (e.g., Bishop, Boyle,
Clune, & Hermanson, 2012; Boyle et al., 2015; Dalton,
Buchheit, & McMillan, 2014; Fish, Becker, & Miller,
2017; Fogarty & Hogan, 2013; Hunt & Jones, 2015;

CONTACT Jill Weber weberj@uww.edu Accounting, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Hyland Hall, Whitewater, WI 262-472-5451, USA.
ß 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
168 A. DALY AND J. WEBER
Plumlee & Reckers, 2014; Plumlee, Kachelmeier,
Madeo, Pratt, & Krull, 2006; Sharman, 2007; Trapnell,
Mero, Williams, & Krull, 2009). These include (1) fac-
ulty retirements; (2) high opportunity costs associated
with doctoral study due to the length of Ph.D. pro-
grams, high accounting salaries, and aggressive
recruitment of undergraduate students; (3) demand
for MBA programs, which compete with Ph.D. pro-
grams for funding; and (4) demand for terminally-
qualified faculty, due to accreditation requirements.
These factors have led to the shortage of accounting
professors—in 2009, the American Institute of
Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the
American Accounting Association (AAA) estimated
that over the following 10 years, annual accounting
faculty retirements would total between 500 and 700,
but annual production of new accounting Ph.D. grad-
uates would only reach 140 (Ruff, Thibodeau, &
Bedard, 2009). A majority of departments surveyed by
Plumlee and Reckers (2014) believe the shortage has
harmed their programs. Hunt and Jones (2015) find
that doctoral granting and non-doctoral granting
institutions are both affected by the shortage, and
have a similar degree of success/failure in recruiting.
The shortage, which limits the number of graduates
programs produce, is a concern to the profession,
which is experiencing a talent shortage (Drew, 2015).
And while total accounting program enrollments are
recently down from the highs of 2016, the AICPA’s
Accounting Doctoral Scholars (ADS) program refers
to the “shortage of accounting faculty” in its call for
Fall 2021 applicants (AICPA 2019, 2020).
Prior research has examined potential methods to
mitigate the shortage. For example, Bishop et al.
(2012) and Boyle et al. (2015) recommend expanding
nontraditional doctoral programs so that practitioners
may obtain doctoral degrees without exiting the work-
force. Other suggestions include attracting candidates
with Ph.D.s in non-accounting fields (Bishop et al.,
2012; Marshall, Dombrowski, & Garner, 2006), incor-
porating more research and Ph.D. preparation into
undergraduate and masters programs (Baker & Wick,
2020; Plumlee & Reckers, 2014), and increasing fund-
ing for Ph.D. students and programs (Bishop et al.,
2012; Plumlee et al., 2006; Trapnell et al., 2009).
Several studies (e.g., Boyle, Hermanson, & Mensah,
2011; Brink, Glasscock, & Wier, 2012; Chang & Sun,
2008; Plumlee et al., 2006) suggest increasing the
information available to potential Ph.D. students, and
Ruff et al. (2009) describe a program where students
are invited to learn about academic careers and doc-
toral programs.
Statement and justification of problem
In this article, we focus on the suggestion to increase
the information available to potential Ph.D. students,
which stems from prior research that finds a lack of
information to be a reason why individuals do not
pursue Ph.D.s Students that pursue masters degrees
typically do so to fulfill the 150 credit-hour require-
ment for licensure as a certified public accountant.
Therefore, programs are often geared toward prepar-
ing students for careers in practice. Boyle et al. (2011)
interviewed accounting practitioners to obtain their
perceptions of academia. They find that for practi-
tioners who had never considered becoming an
accounting professor, “the most common reasons
were: no interest, never thought about it, never heard
about it, and no information” (p. 74, emphasis ours).
One of the coauthors of Bishop et al. (2012), “had
never seriously considered a career in academia, pri-
marily due to a lack of information concerning this
career path and its benefits” (p. 8, emphasis ours).
There also appear to be misconceptions about aca-
demia. For example, many practitioners seemed
unaware of the research required and underestimated
professor salaries (Boyle et al., 2011). There also
appears to be a lack of encouragement. Plumlee and
Reckers (2014) surveyed masters students on their
intentions to enter Ph.D. programs and find that stu-
dents who are likely to apply to a Ph.D. program are
(1) more likely to disagree that they had never been
encouraged to seek a Ph.D., and (2) more likely to
agree that one or more professors had talked with
them about research and becoming an accounting
professor. These findings suggest that professor
encouragement can impact students’ desires to pursue
doctoral study.
Following the suggestion of Plumlee et al. (2006)
and Boyle et al. (2011) that more information and
encouragement be provided to students, we explore if
a class discussion with masters students can improve
their understanding of academia. Masters students
represent a large pool of students accessible to profes-
sors, and, if effective, a classroom discussion is an
inexpensive and comparatively low-effort method that
universities could implement to increase their stu-
dents’ understanding of accounting academia.
Methodology
We dedicated time in a masters of accounting class to
the topic of accounting academia. This was completed
at a public university in the Midwestern United
States. The course selected was “Accounting Theory
 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS 169

Table 1. Masters of accounting students’ knowledge and perceptions.a

Pre-survey (n ¼ 78) Post-survey (n ¼ 78)
Mean Std. dev. Mean Std. dev. p-valueb
Panel A: The career of an accounting professor
Salaries survey question 112,237 23,229 134,397 22,620 .000
Comparison to benchmark 35,016 20,618 16,139 19,362 .000
Research survey question 2.026 0.953 2.756 0.996 .000
Service survey question
Comparison to benchmark 1 0.370 0.486 0.757 0.432 .000
Comparison to benchmark 2 0.301 0.462 0.703 0.460 .000
Personal qualities/abilities/skills/background survey question
Comparison to benchmark 0.385 0.490 0.679 0.470 .000
Panel B: The requirements to become an accounting professor
Education survey question
Comparison to benchmark 0.064 0.247 0.397 0.493 .000
GMAT survey question 613 106 651 53 .021
Comparison to benchmark 1 78 80 32 42 .000
Comparison to benchmark 2 0.167 0.377 0.526 0.504 .000
Work experience survey question 4.138 2.187 2.105 2.533 .000
Comparison to benchmark 4.138 2.187 2.105 2.533 .000
Panel C: PhD programs
Tuition survey question 28,543 19,752 6,026 12,155 .000
Comparison to benchmark 28,543 19,752 6,026 12,155 .000
Financial support survey question 10,893 10,283 20,784 11,928 .000
Comparison to benchmark 12,040 6,547 9,189 7,569 .015
Time to degree survey question 3.688 1.315 4.500 0.761 .000
Comparison to benchmark 1.266 0.880 0.558 0.513 .000
Coursework survey question
Comparison to benchmark 1 0.616 0.490 0.887 0.318 .000
Comparison to benchmark 2 0.329 0.473 0.507 0.504 .030
a
Refer to the Appendix for survey questions and benchmarks.
b
Two-tailed p-values obtained from a t-test of paired differences of means for the hypothesis of no difference from zero.

and Applied Research,” as the topic of academic
research fits with the material and the course was
taught by one of the researchers. Students’ under-
standing of academia was assessed using surveys
administered before and after the class discussion.
Students were asked to take the pre-survey before the
class in order to obtain their existing perceptions.
Students were then asked to read Beyer, Herrmann,
Meek, and Rapley (2010)’s guide for doctoral students
as their assigned reading. During class, the researcher
lectured on topics including (1) what a career as an
accounting professor entails, (2) education require-
ments, (3) what a Ph.D. program entails, (4) Ph.D.
program admissions, and (5) dispelling some common
misconceptions. Finally, students were asked to take a
post-survey after the class. While the class period was
a regular class, completion of the surveys was optional
for extra credit.
Results and discussion
Both surveys were sent to the 82 students enrolled in
the course and 78 students responded to both surveys.
We compare the average value of students’ responses
to the survey questions before and after completing
the reading and class discussion. Then, we compare
these responses to benchmarks to evaluate whether
students’ correctness improved (AAA, 2007; AACSB,
2016). The Appendix lists the survey questions and
related benchmarks.
Table 1, Panel A reports the results of students’
responses to questions about their knowledge and per-
ceptions of the career of an accounting professor.
Based on the results, it is clear that the students were
initially uninformed of several aspects of careers in aca-
demia (including salaries, research, and service), and
that their understanding improved after the discussion.
Students were also provided with a list of 22 personal
qualities/abilities/skills/background, seventeen of which
were obtained from the results of a AAA survey that
provided facts about Ph.D. programs and indicated
desired qualities of Ph.D. program applicants (AAA,
2007), and five of which are “incorrect” answers seeded
in. The students were asked to identify the five they
believe are most necessary to be admitted into a Ph.D.
program and succeed in a career as an accounting pro-
fessor. Improvement in students’ understanding of the
necessary qualities is evidenced by a significant
increase in the percentages of students that only iden-
tify qualities from the AAA (2007) survey.
Table 1, Panel B reports the results of responses to
questions about requirements to become a professor.
Many students were not aware of the education required
for tenure-track positions, but their understanding
increased post-discussion. Students also exhibited greater
understanding of the qualifications necessary for
170 A. DALY AND J. WEBER

Table 2. Masters of accounting students’ interest in pursuing a career as an accounting professor.

Pre-survey (n ¼ 78) Post-survey (n ¼ 78)
Mean Std. dev. Mean Std. dev.
How interested are you in pursuing a career as an accounting professor?a 2.410 1.200 2.077 1.193
Very uninterested 23 29.5% 34 43.6%
Somewhat uninterested 20 25.6% 19 24.4%
Neither interested nor uninterested 18 23.1% 13 16.7%
Somewhat interested 14 17.9% 9 11.5%
Very interested 3 3.8% 3 3.8%
Total 78 100.0% 78 100.0%
If you were to pursue a career as an accounting professor, which of the following paths
would you most likely take to obtain the required education?
Go to school full-time to get a Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) in Accounting 28 35.9% 32 41.0%
Go to school part-time to get a Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) 23 29.5% 10 12.8%
Go to school either full-time or part-time to get a Juris Doctorate 2 2.6% 1 1.3%
I am not at all interested in pursuing a career as an accounting professor 25 32.1% 35 44.9%
Total 78 100.0% 78 100.0%
If you were to pursue a career as an accounting professor, when would you most likely
pursue the required education?
Within 5 years of obtaining a masters degree 14 17.9% 23 29.5%
Within 10 years of obtaining a masters degree 19 24.4% 14 17.9%
At least 10 years after obtaining a masters degree 22 28.2% 8 10.3%
I am not at all interested in pursuing a career as an accounting professor 23 29.5% 33 42.3%
Total 78 100.0% 78 100.0%
a
Two-tailed p-value of .084 obtained from a t-test of paired differences of means for the hypothesis of no difference from zero.

admission into Ph.D. programs in terms of GMAT score
and required work experience. Table 1, Panel C reports
the results of responses to questions about accounting
Ph.D. programs. The results demonstrate an increased
understanding of the financial aspects and time commit-
ments of Ph.D. programs. Regarding the financial
aspects, as compared to the AAA (2007) survey, students
initially overestimated tuition and underestimated finan-
cial support. Regarding time commitments, as compared
to the AAA (2007) survey, students initially underesti-
mated the number of years to complete a Ph.D. program.
Additionally, students’ responses suggest that after the
lesson, they have a better grasp of the nature of course-
work completed during a Ph.D. program and time spent
on tasks.
Overall, findings indicate a classroom discussion is
an effective method for improving students’ under-
standing of accounting academia. Therefore, we
suggest that a classroom discussion is a potentially
low-cost method for decreasing the shortage of
accounting professors, seeing as a common reason
practitioners cite for having not considered this career
include never hearing about it and not having any
information about it (Boyle et al., 2011).
Additional analysis
Students’ interest in a career as an
accounting professor
During the surveys, students were asked “How inter-
ested are you in pursuing a career as an accounting
professor?” Students were then asked to provide an
explanation for their interest and to respond to ques-
tions about the paths they would take if they were to
pursue the career. Table 2 compares their responses to
these questions before and after the reading and class
discussion. After improving their understanding of aca-
demia, students exhibited less interest in pursuing this
career path. The average interest level decreased and
the number of students very uninterested in becoming
an accounting professor increased by 14.1%. For stu-
dents whose interest level decreased, over half
expressed concerns about scholarly research. Other
explanations provided included: not being interested in
pursuing it at this time, the additional years of school
required, concerns about teaching, a lack of overall fit/
desire, and concerns about admissions requirements. It
is encouraging, though, that the percentages increased
for those students that indicated that, if they were to
pursue this career path, they would do so by going to
school full-time to get a Ph.D. and within 5 years of
obtaining a master’s degree.
We next use responses to the post-survey to further
understand the decrease in interest level. Table 3 com-
pares the average value of the responses of those stu-
dents that are not interested in becoming professors
to those that are interested. To ensure that differences
in interest level is not due to differences in learning,
Panel A of Table 3 first considers the questions that
were used to assess the efficacy of the class discussion.
It does not appear that there is an overall difference
in the understanding of the career of an accounting
professor across the two groups. The only question
 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS 171

Table 3. Understanding masters of accounting students’ interest in pursuing a career as an accounting professor.
Not interested (n ¼ 66) Interesteda (n ¼ 12)
Mean Std. dev. Mean Std. dev. p-valueb
Panel A: Comparison of masters of accounting students’ knowledge and
perceptions by interest levelc
Salaries survey question 132,911 23,106 143,182 17,927 .112
Comparison to benchmark 16,862 20,216 11,873 13,143 .301
Research survey question 2.636 0.939 3.417 1.084 .034
Service survey question
Comparison to benchmark 1 0.742 0.441 0.833 0.389 .594
Comparison to benchmark 2 0.694 0.465 0.750 0.452 .699
Personal qualities/abilities/skills/background survey question
Comparison to benchmark 0.682 0.469 0.667 0.492 .923
Education survey question
Comparison to benchmark 0.409 0.495 0.333 0.492 .631
GMAT survey question 648 55 669 37 .199
Comparison to benchmark 1 34 43 19 37 .326
Comparison to benchmark 2 0.490 0.505 0.750 0.463 .177
Work experience survey question 2.039 2.533 2.458 2.615 .616
Comparison to benchmark 2.039 2.533 2.458 2.615 .616
Tuition survey question 6,844 12,875 1,667 5,774 .177
Comparison to benchmark 6,844 12,875 1,667 5,774 .177
Financial support survey question 20,411 12,439 22,708 9,011 .459
Comparison to benchmark 9,637 7,779 6,875 6,135 .189
Time to degree survey question 4.462 0.777 4.708 0.656 .261
Comparison to benchmark 0.562 0.534 0.542 0.396 .882
Coursework survey question
Comparison to benchmark 1 0.898 0.305 0.833 0.389 .477
Comparison to benchmark 2 0.525 0.504 0.417 0.515 .513
Panel B: Additional questions to understand masters of accounting
students’ interest in pursuing a career as an accounting professor
Have you taken the Graduate Management Admission Test 0.485 0.504 0.250 0.452 .123
(GMAT)? (yes)
Compared to alternative careers, do you believe a career as an
accounting professor would provide a higher or lower level of:d
Autonomy/Flexibility 3.727 1.001 4.083 0.793 .188
Personal Satisfaction 3.182 1.006 3.917 0.793 .011
Income 3.606 0.959 3.833 1.030 .489
Do you think you would enjoy the kind of academic research that 1.742 0.730 2.667 1.073 .013
accounting professors do?e
Do you believe you would enjoy the type of service activities that 2.908 1.011 3.545 1.128 .102
accounting professors perform as a part of their job?5
Has anyone ever encouraged you to seek a PhD in Accounting? (yes) 0.273 0.449 0.333 0.492 .697
Have you received information from one or more accounting 0.818 0.389 0.750 0.452 .631
professors about a career as an accounting professor? (yes)
Have you ever taught at the college level (as an instructor, teaching 0.076 0.267 0.167 0.389 .451
assistant, or supplemental instructor)? (yes)
Have you talked with one or more accounting professors about 0.167 0.376 0.333 0.492 .284
academic accounting research studies? (yes)
What is your age in years? 23.621 4.075 22.917 0.793 .554
With which gender do you most identify? (male) 0.682 0.559 0.667 0.492 .774
Do you currently own a home with a mortgage? (yes) 0.076 0.267 0.083 0.289 .934
Would entering an accounting PhD program require you to 0.379 0.489 0.500 0.522 .467
substantially lower your standard of living? (yes)
Do you have a spouse? (yes) 0.121 0.329 0.083 0.289 .688
Do dependent children currently live with you? (yes) 0.045 0.210 0.000 0.000 .458
Do you have a family member that is a college professor? (yes) 0.061 0.240 0.250 0.452 .035
a
Those students that are not interested in pursuing a career as an accounting professor are those that indicated that they were “Very uninterested,”
“Somewhat uninterested,” or “Neither interested nor uninterested” and those that are interested are those that indicated that they were “Somewhat
interested” or “Very interested.”
b
Two-tailed p-values obtained from a t-test of paired differences of means for the hypothesis of no difference from zero.
c
Refer to the Appendix for the survey questions and benchmarks.
d
Based on the following five-point scale: Significantly lower (1), Somewhat lower (2), Neither higher nor lower (3), Somewhat higher (4), Significantly
higher (5).
e
Based on the following five-point scale: Definitely not (1), Probably not (2), Might or might not (3), Probably yes (4), Definitely yes (5).

where there is a significant difference is students’ per-
ceptions of their understanding of the difference
between technical research and academic research.
Panel B of Table 3 displays students’ responses to
additional questions. Based on their responses,
additional explanations for students’ interest in pursu-
ing a career as an accounting professor include their
expected personal career satisfaction, their expected
enjoyment of research, and whether they have a fam-
ily member who is a college professor.
172 A. DALY AND J. WEBER
Second course intervention
Consistent with our finding that students’ interest in
becoming accounting professors is positively associ-
ated with their understanding and expected enjoyment
of research, Baker and Wick (2020) find that taking a
course in accounting research and theory increased
undergraduate accounting students’ interest in pursu-
ing a Ph.D. and a career in academia. However, pro-
grams may have difficulty requiring a standalone
course with so much other necessary content.
So we dedicated class time in a second course,
“International Accounting,” to this same topic at the
same university and taught by the same researcher. This
class consisted of 44 students, none of whom had par-
ticipated in our first course. Students’ completed the
same surveys; however, we also focused on exposing the
students to academic research. Students completed an
assignment throughout the semester, whereby they pre-
sented about an academic research study that is different
from those selected by others. In addition to attending
all presentations, each student submitted a report sum-
marizing the presentations. Then, the researcher lectured
on the same topics as in the first course.
In untabulated results, we find that students’ under-
standing improved from the pre survey to the post sur-
vey, but now find that there is no change in interest
level. This suggests that with greater exposure to
research, students no longer appear to be less interested
in becoming accounting professors after improving
their understanding of the career. Further, students’
perceptions of their understanding of the difference
between technical and academic research no longer
exhibits a significant difference between students that
are interested in becoming professors and those that
are not. However, investigation into the students whose
interest level decreased revealed similar results to
before, in that in their explanations for their interest
level, 42% expressed concerns about research. Other
explanations provided by these students included not
being interested in pursuing it at this time, concerns
about the additional years of school required, concerns
about teaching, a lack of overall fit/desire.
Conclusion
In this study, we explore masters of accounting stu-
dents’ perceptions of accounting academia. Although
many students were initially uninformed on the topic,
students’ responses to the survey administered after
the in-class discussion demonstrated that they had
gained a better understanding of the career of an
accounting professor. Interestingly, after improving
their understanding, students exhibited less interest in
pursuing this career path. We find that students’
interest in pursuing a career as an accounting profes-
sor is positively associated with both their understand-
ing and expected enjoyment of research.
While it may seem problematic that students’ inter-
est levels in becoming accounting professors decrease
upon learning more about the career, it is encouraging
that students are more informed, since it is not
expected that every student should enter accounting
academia. Additionally, by providing these students
with information, we suggest that students’ desires to
become professors may increase later on. Students at
the end of their academic programs are often anxious
to finish school and enter the workforce. Therefore,
further education may seem unappealing. However,
after spending several years in practice, many
accountants decide to pursue other career options. We
suggest that by providing information on academic
careers, students may give them additional consider-
ation in the future. As mentioned earlier, Boyle et al.
(2011) find that for practitioners who had never con-
sidered becoming an accounting professor, the most
common reasons included having never heard about
it and having no information. Providing information
to masters students should mitigate this issue.
The results of our first intervention suggest that
students struggle to understand the differences
between technical accounting research and academic
research, and they are concerned that they would not
enjoy academic research. Therefore, in our second
intervention, we increased students’ exposure to aca-
demic research. We find that students understand aca-
demic research better after exposure to it, but their
perception of their enjoyment of academic research
does not increase. We find that the primary reason
masters students are disinterested in becoming profes-
sors is that they doubt they would enjoy research.
Therefore, we propose that for the profession to
address the shortage of Ph.D.s, steps must be taken to
increase research’s attractiveness. For programs unable
to require a standalone research course, we offer the
following potential methods of increasing students’
interest in academic research: (1) require completion
of a research project as a required course component,
(2) require students to replicate a study and present
the theory and findings as a required course compo-
nent, (3) advise students to participate in an under-
graduate research program, and (4) invite students to
attend faculty research presentations. Future research
could investigate the effectiveness of these methods.

Acknowledgments
We thank Richard Walstra and workshop participants at
the 2017 AAA Midwest Region Meeting for help-
ful comments.
Funding
We thank the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
for funding.
ORCID
Abbie Daly http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7066-3668
Jill Weber http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3816-3203
Data availability statement
The data that support the findings of this study are avail-
able from the corresponding author, upon reason-
able request.
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174 A. DALY AND J. WEBER

Appendix. Knowledge and perceptions survey questions

Topic Survey Question
Salaries On average, what dollar amount do you believe
an accounting professor earns per year in salary?
Research How well do you understand the difference
between 1) the technical research accountants
perform in practice and 2) the academic research
that accounting professors perform?1
Service What type of service activities do you believe
accounting professors perform as a part of their
job?2
Personal qualities / What personal qualities / abilities / skills /
abilities / skills / background do you believe are most necessary
background to be admitted into a PhD program and succeed
in a career as an accounting professor?3
Education Which of the following degrees do you think
provide the education required for a tenure-track
accounting professor position?4
GMAT What GMAT score do you believe is high
enough to be admitted into a PhD program?
Work experience How many years of work experience do you
believe are enough to be admitted into a PhD
program?
Benchmark
Absolute value of $145,600 less amount,
per AACSB (2016)
1. Student identified at least one type of
service activity consistent with that
typically performed by accounting
professors
2. Student only identified service
activities consistent with that typically
performed by accounting professors
Student only identified qualities per
AAA (2007)
PhD, DBA, and JD
1. Absolute value of 650 less GMAT
score, per Beyer et al. 2010 and AAA
(2007)
2. Percentage of responses of 650, per
Beyer et al. (2010)
Zero less years, per AAA (2007)

Tuition How much do you believe the average PhD Zero less amount, per AAA (2007)
student pays in tuition per year? (This amount
should represent the amount actually paid, and
so should be reduced for any tuition
scholarships/waivers).
Financial support Not counting the tuition scholarships/waivers Absolute value of $20,000 less amount,
considered in the previous question, how much per AAA (2007)
financial support do you believe the average
PhD student receives per year for expenses
besides tuition (e.g. for living expenses, books,
etc.)?
Time to degree How many years do you estimate the average Absolute value of 4.5 years less years,
PhD student takes to complete an accounting per AAA (2007)
PhD program?
Coursework What types of courses do you believe are 1. Student identified at least one type of
included in an accounting PhD program?5 course consistent with a typical
accounting PhD program
2. Student only identified courses
consistent with a typical accounting PhD
program
Time allocation Over the course of an accounting PhD program,
what percentage of time do you believe a PhD
student spends on the following tasks?6

1
Based on the following five-point scale: Not well at all (1), Slightly well (2), Moderately well (3), Very well (4),
Extremely well (5).
2
Open-response question; students may have identified more than activity. The composition of all activities
identified were categorized as follows:
Pre-Survey Post-Survey
1. University 22% 32%
2. Professional 4% 29%
3. Community 15% 15%
4. Did not identify a service activity 58% 23%
100% 100%
 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS 175

3
Students were provided with a list of twenty-two items from which they were instructed to choose five. The top
five most frequently chosen are reported as follows, with the percentage of students selecting the item:
Pre-Survey Post-Survey
1. Experience/acctg background 55% 1. Research potential 69%
2. Work ethic/motivation 47% 2. Work ethic/motivation 51%
3. Communication/writing skills 45% 3. Intelligence/academic skills 44%
4. Teaching potential 38% 4. Teaching potential 40%
5. Research potential 36% 5. Interest in being a professor 36%

4
Students were provided with the following list, with the percentage of students selecting each degree reported as
follows:
Pre-Survey Post-Survey
PhD in Accounting (Doctor of Philosophy in Accounting) 62% 85%
DBA (Doctor of Business Administration) 23% 58%
JD (Juris Doctorate) 10% 50%
MBA (Master of Business Administration) 28% 12%
MPA (Master of Professional Accountancy) 72% 28%
BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration) 37% 19%
I do not understand the difference between tenure-track and non-tenure
track accounting professor positions. 5% 0%

5
Open-response question; students may have identified more than course. The composition of all courses identified
are reported as follows:
Survey question Percent Percent
1. Research-related courses 45% 59%
2. Teaching-related courses 12% 18%
3. Business courses 37% 14%
4. Did not identify a course 6% 9%
100% 100%

6
Students were provided with the following list, with the percentage of students selecting each degree reported as
follows:
Pre-Survey Post-Survey
1. Coursework 28% 24%
2. Research projects 46% 54%
3. Teaching 26% 22%
100% 100%
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