PhD in Accounting

Distinguish your education

with a doctorate in Accounting from the Leeds School of Business.

PhD in Accounting Program FlyerÌýMeet Current StudentsÌýÌýÌýÌýExplore FAQsÌý

PhD in accounting students

Accounting PhD students are trained to be successful academic researchers. Students are trained to develop their own research ideas and implement appropriate research methods. Our program focuses on empirical research, where students analyze real-world data to study the impact of firm communication and corporate governance practices on markets, organizations, or behavior. ÌýThe Accounting PhD program provides students the opportunity to work in collaborative relationships with faculty and gain the skills necessary to conduct research that contributes to knowledge in the broad areas of corporate disclosure, governance, and sustainability.

Leeds’ accounting research reputation is among the strongest: Leeds ranks No. 18 for financial-archival research publications and No. 15 for managerial-archival research publications in the U.S. over the last six years (source: BYU Accounting Research Rankings). Leeds’ graduates also demonstrate strong research potential: Leeds’ accounting PhD program ranks No. 28 for financial-archival publications and No. 7 for managerial-archival publications six years post-graduation.

Our program also places strong emphasis on preparing our graduates for the classroom. Accounting students build their teaching portfolio by first acting as a teaching apprentice (TA) for a semester-long accounting class and subsequently teaching their own two sections of a semester-long class.

General details about the curriculum, requirements, and Please be aware this document is not an exhaustive list of the requirements for the Program.

Program Faculty

Led by Program Directors Nathan Marshall and Bryce Schonberger, our award-winning and renowned Accounting faculty are published experts on topics including:

Ìý

  • Corporate Disclosure

  • Information Intermediaries

  • Market Microstructure

  • Corporate Governance

  • Executive Compensation

  • Corporate Social Responsibility
    Ìý

  • Standard Setting

  • Empirical Financial Research

  • Econometrics

Tandean Rustandy Esteemed Professor

Assistant Professor

Assistant Professor

Associate Professor • Tisone Memorial Fellow & KPMG Faculty Fellow • Accounting PhD Program Director

Assistant Professor

Assistant Professor • Stone Family Faculty Scholar

Associate Professor • Chair of the Professional Effectiveness Division • Interim Chair of the Accounting Division

Assistant Professor • JRN Faculty Scholar

Assistant Professor • Craig and Cynthia Smith Faculty Scholar

Assistant Professor • Dean's Faculty Scholar

Assistant Professor

Plante Moran-Dave Steiner Accounting Faculty Fellowship Endowed Fund • Professor • Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility Faculty Director

Tisone Memorial Fellow • Professor • Senior Associate Dean for Faculty

Learn more aboutÌý

Program Graduates

The PhD program prepares students to be researchers and teachers at major universities. See where our graduates started their careers and published research.

Jackie Wegner
PhD: 2024
Placement: University of Southern California
Dissertation: The Information Gatekeeping Role of Search Engines: Evidence from Investor Trading

Jesse Glaze
PhD: 2022
Placement: University of Texas, El Paso
Dissertation: Fast-Thinking Attention and the Disposition Effect

Nicholas Jasa
PhD: 2020
Placement: University of Nebraska Omaha
Dissertation: Risk Disclosure and Event Impact Mitigation: Evidence from Security Breaches

Tongqing Ding
PhD: 2019
Placement: University of Melbourne
Dissertation: Understanding Heterogeneous Board Busyness: Determinants and Implications

Nikki Skinner
PhD: 2019
Placement: University of Georgia
Dissertation: Changing the Channel: The Relation between Information Complexity and Disclosure Channel Richness

Leah Baer
PhD: 2018
Placement: University of Missouri at Columbia
Dissertation: Are All Interim CEOs Created Equal? Evidence from Investor Perceptions and CEO Behavior

Caleb Rawson
PhD: 2018
Placement: University of Arkansas
Dissertation: Who Let the Secrets Out? Overconfidence and the disclosure of proprietary information

Judith Hermis
PhD: 2017
Placement: Naval Postgraduate School
Dissertation: Corporate Political Influence and Contract Risk: Evidence from Federal Procurement

Andrea Pawliczek
PhD: 2017
Placement: University of Missouri at Columbia
Dissertation: The Effect of Performance Shares on Executive Incentives

Jonathan Black
PhD: 2015
Placement: Purdue University
Dissertation: Assessing the Impact of Credit Derivative Seller Disclosure

​Adam Bordeman
PhD: 2015
Placement: California Polytechnic State University
Dissertation: The Effects of Discretion in Accounting Standards on Financial Reporting Comparability

Jessica Weber
PhD: 2014
Placement: University of Nevada, Reno
Dissertation: Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure Level, External Assurance and Cost of Equity Capital

Marc Cussatt
PhD: 2014
Placement: University of Washington, Pullman
Dissertation: The Usefulness of Pension Obligation Estimates – Evidence from the Post-Financial Crisis Era

Jeremy Michels
PhD: 2014
Placement: University of Pennsylvania
Dissertation: Essays on Disclosure

Paige Patrick
PhD: 2013
Placement: University of Washington
Dissertation: Essays in Executive Compensation

Troy Pollard
PhD: 2013
Placement: University of Alabama
Dissertation: Sneaking in the Back Door? An Evaluation of Reverse Mergers and IPOs

Kristin Luttecke
PhD: 2012
Placement: University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Dissertation: Expectations Management Around Fixed Date Stock Option Grants

Sanghyuk Byun
PhD: 2012
Placement: Sogang University, Korea
Dissertation: Determinants and Implications of Executive Pay Dispersion and Compensation to Investor Relations Officers

Brian Burnett
PhD: 2011
Placement: Indiana University, Bloomington
Dissertation: Essays on Disclosure and Legal Origin

Curtis Nicholls
PhD: 2010
Placement: Bucknell University
Dissertation: The Impact of Accounting & Auditing Enforcement Actions on Firm’s Cost of Equity Capital<