A Proposal for a Professional Doctorate in Accounting to Address the Accounting Faculty Shortage

Abstract

“A combination of circumstances - the shortage of accounting faculty that is likely to increase sharply (given the average age of full-time tenured faculty) and a single pathway to a single terminal degree in accounting that cannot accommodate substantially more doctoral students - raises questions about how accounting educators will be able to fulfill their roles in teaching, research, and service in the future.” (Pathways Commission, 2012) This paper presents a proposal for a professional doctorate in accounting as a means of addressing the prevailing shortage of doctorally-qualified accounting faculty and several related issues within accounting higher education. Given recent pronouncements by the AACSB and the AAA and AICPA-sponsored Pathways Commission, the potential for such a degree program to help achieve these objectives appears promising. The nature and causes of the accounting faculty shortage, previous attempts to address this problem, and the role of professional experience are discussed first. This is followed by an overview of the professions, and of the ways in which professional doctorates have been implemented in law and medicine as prototypes for a professional doctorate in accounting. The paper concludes with a discussion of the benefits that can be achieved by implementing a professional doctorate in accounting.