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An accounting doctoral student must satisfy successfully two main degree requirements:
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Complete an approved plan of study consisting of required and elective courses. This coursework typically takes two years and culminates in a comprehensive written and oral exam through which the student demonstrates a clear mastery of accounting subject matter and a readiness to pursue dissertation research.
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Produce and defend a dissertation. This dissertation effort includes
- identifying a research topic,
- proposing a plan for investigating the topic,
- obtaining approval of the proposal from the student's faculty advisory committee,
- defending the proposal before the faculty and Ph.D. students.
Research is carried out according to an approved plan, with ongoing guidance from the advisory committee. The entire research effort is documented in the dissertation, which must be presented and successfully defended before the faculty.
Additional program information is available in the statement of policies and the description of the
Ph.D. student evaluation process. The dissertation is then filed in the UK library.
Initially, a student's advisory committee will consist of members of the School of Accountancy admissions committee.
The committee:
- advises the student,
- approves the plan of study,
- prepares the qualifying examination,
- sdministers the qualifying examination,
- determines whether the student advances to dissertation work.
Until students pass their qualifying exams, they may have the same advisory committee members as others. After students pass their qualifying exams, their advisory committees typically are reformulated to closely reflect each student's specific dissertation interests.
The advisory committee's functions include:
- assessment of the dissertation proposal
- oversight of the research efforts
- approval of the dissertation defense
The university requires that each committee must have at least four members. At least two must be School of Accountancy professors; at least three must have graduate faculty standing, and at least one must be from outside the Business Administration faculty.
An accounting plan of study requires a minimum of 40 credit hours. Students normally take 9 credit hours each semester, and 4 hours their first summer. The coursework has two components:
Core coursework requirements - 19 hours (cedit hours for each course are shown in parentheses)
- BA 700 - Teaching Methods in Business (1)
- BA 762 - Research Methodology or equivalent (3) (This is normally replaced by ACC 700-Introduction to Accounting Research with the approval of the BA 762 instructor.)
- Six (6) hours of theoretical foundations courses approved by the student's DGS
- Nine (9) credit hours in research tools, of which six (6) hours must be statistics courses
Major Field Requirements
The major field consists of at least 21 hours of graduate credit course work, including 9 hours of either ACC795 or ACC700, which explore various research areas in accounting.
Major elective courses are selected in light of student interests and with the guidance of the student's faculty advisory committee. Typical areas for elective work in accounting include economics, finance, management, or psychology.
First and Second Year Papers
Students work closely with a faculty mentor who is assigned based on the student's research interests. In the summer following the first year, students complete a literature review of research in their area of interest. They present the paper to the faculty and doctoral students during a fall research workshop. During the second year of study, the student and mentor complete a research project suitable for publication.
The Von Allmen School of Accountancy qualifying exam is designed to allow a student to demonstrate that the student is qualified to pursue dissertation research. It consists of a written and an oral portion.
The written portion tests a student's comprehension of research methodology, research tools, and accounting subject matter. The written exam is normally given in early summer after the end of the spring semester in which coursework is completed, at a time determined by the accounting doctoral program director.
The oral portion of the exam gives the advisory committee an opportunity to evaluate the student's responses to the written exam and the student's qualifications for conducting dissertation research.
Doctoral students are encouraged to begin identifying a dissertation topic and developing ideas about how to investigate the topic fairly early (e.g., in the second year of study). This helps in preparing for the qualifying exam and may allow formal approval of a student's dissertation proposal to occur soon after the qualifying examination is passed.
The Von Allmen School of Accounting strongly encourages each student to have completed dissertation work before leaving the University of Kentucky to begin employment. Long-distance, part-time efforts at completing a dissertation are problematic for both the faculty and the student. Dissertation efforts may involve theoretical, analytical, and/or empirical (e.g., survey, field, experimental) research.
A dissertation must significantly contribute to the accounting discipline; it must clearly enlarge the existing body of accounting knowledge. The student's coursework provides a foundation for conceiving and carrying out research work. Members of the School of Accountancy faculty serve on the student's advisory committee to offer stimulation, guidance, and feedback over the course of the research work. The committee's chairperson tends to be especially influential in this regard. Successful dissertation efforts also depend heavily on the student's dedication, work ethic, creativity, and ability to communicate effectively.
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