Addressing the Accounting and Auditing Faculty Shortage: Practitioners' Perceptions of Academia

Abstract

SUMMARY: To provide greater insight into the potential to attract practitioners into academic accounting and auditing careers, we interviewed 30 current practitioners in public accounting or industry to examine their perceptions of academic careers. We find that most interviewees have considered an academic career, and they believe that there are many important advantages of such careers. However, most interviewees see the Ph.D. as a substantial hurdle, and many question the value of the Ph.D. The interviewees significantly underestimate the typical compensation for accounting professors, and they indicate the need for very high levels of financial support in order to pursue a Ph.D. full-time. We examine implications of these findings for attracting practitioners into doctoral programs and academic careers.