Earn a Ph.D. in Accounting at Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School. Focus on auditing, reporting, and economics through advanced research training.
Our Ph.D. in Accounting program prepares students to conduct original and creative research which will add to general knowledge of accounting. The program provides students with rigorous training in accounting, as well as in the related disciplines of economics, behavioral science, finance, production, statistics, mathematics and other social science research methods.
Accounting concepts, standards, measurements, and the conceptual framework that integrates them
The effect of accounting information and auditing on the design of organizations, and on the ensuing behavior of individuals and groups
Analysis of the relationship between accounting information and stock prices
The institutional environment of accounting and accounting public policies that are generated therein
Technological development relating to information processing and its impact on accounting and auditing concepts and standards in tax accounting and their role in formulating and implementing tax policies
Multisector systems of national accounts and their relationship with private accounting
Please visit our Ph.D. Student Profiles page to view the profiles of our current doctoral candidates.
Requirements for a Ph.D. in Accounting
Students successfully completing the accounting doctoral degree program are awarded a Ph.D. in Accounting.
Ph.D. students in Accounting must fulfill all of the general Tepper School Ph.D. requirements, in addition to any area specific requirements.
Students are expected to attend and participate in our workshops and annual conference.
By the end of the third semester, Accounting students must pass a qualifying exam on Accounting and the Economics qualifying exams on Microeconomics I and II and Economics I and II.
Students with specific interests can substitute qualifying exams in Operations Research or Organizational Behavior for Economics, with faculty approval.
Students with appropriate preparation prior to their entry to the program may choose to take the qualifying exams prior to the third semester, however, they must take the entire set of qualifiers as outlined above.
With the assistance of an adviser, students enjoy considerable flexibility in working out their actual programs of study.