Specializations
PhD in Accounting
Is this Specialization for you?
Discover how this program aligns with your academic or research oriented career goals. Request a virtual one-on-one meeting with a member of our program team.
Program Structure and Content
Each student is required to complete the following courses as well as a research project of publishable quality, present at our annual Smith Grad Student Consortium, comprehensive exams, and present at a research seminar in year 3.
Course offerings change from year to year. This sample stream is not reflective of a guaranteed curriculum but is instead an example of what a curriculum could look like in a given year. Please note the minimum requirement to complete a degree is 27 credits. Many of our area groups will exceed the minimum courses to satisfy job market needs in academia.
With supervisor approval, students can select MGMT specialization courses from other area groups. Electives can be any other MGMT course or a course from another department at the supervisor’s discretion.
Course descriptions are available on the School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs website. Any non-MGMT courses are linked below.
Sample Accounting - Finance/Economics Stream PhD Curriculum
| Course | Credits |
|---|---|
| Core | |
| MGMT 901 Research Foundations | Pass/Fail |
| MGMT 993 Teaching and Learning in Management and Business | Pass/Fail |
| MGMT 989 Major Research Project | Pass/Fail |
| MGMT 994 Upper Year Research Presentation | Pass/Fail |
| MGMT 999 PhD Thesis | Pass/Fail |
| Specialization – MGMT | |
| MGMT 910 Accounting I – Financial Accounting Research | 3 |
| MGMT 911 Accounting II – Auditing Research | 3 |
| MGMT 912 Accounting III – Management Accounting Research | 3 |
| MGMT 916 Special Topics in Accounting | 3 |
| Electives – Supervisor Approved MGMT or Other Department | |
| MGMT 913 Introduction to Accounting Research – Markets (or other elective) | 1.5 |
| MGMT 921 Capital Markets, Theory and Empirics (or other elective) | 3 |
| MGMT 922 Corporate Finance, Theory and Empirics (or other elective) | 3 |
| MGMT 923 Financial Economics (or other elective) | 3 |
| Methods/Related Field | |
| ECON 850 Econometrics I | 3 |
| MGMT 988 Applied Statistics and Econometrics | 3 |
| MGMT 990 Econometrics Methods | 3 |
| Total Credits | 31.5 |
Examples of possible electives from other departments for the Accounting – Finance/Economics specialization include:
Sample Accounting – Social/Behavioural Stream PhD Curriculum
| Course | Credits |
|---|---|
| Core | |
| MGMT 901 Research Foundations | Pass/Fail |
| MGMT 993 Teaching and Learning in Management and Business | Pass/Fail |
| MGMT 989 Major Research Project | Pass/Fail |
| MGMT 994 Upper Year Research Presentation | Pass/Fail |
| MGMT 999 PhD Thesis | Pass/Fail |
| Specialization – MGMT | |
| MGMT 910 Accounting I – Financial Accounting Research | 3 |
| MGMT 911 Accounting II – Auditing Research | 3 |
| MGMT 912 Accounting III – Qualitative Research | 3 |
| MGMT 916 Special Topics in Accounting Research | 3 |
| Electives – Supervisor Approved MGMT or Other Department | |
| MGMT 913 Introduction to Accounting Research – Markets (or other elective) | 1.5 |
| MGMT 914 Introduction to Accounting Research – Experimental (or other elective) | 1.5 |
| Elective | 3 |
| Methods/Related Field | |
| MGMT 800 Statistics I | 3 |
| MGMT 900 Statistics II | 3 |
| MGMT 902 Qualitative Research Method Design | 1.5 |
| MGMT 903 Experimental Research Method Design | 1.5 |
| MGMT 904 Survey Research Method Design | 1.5 |
| Total Credits | 28.5 |
Examples of possible electives from other departments for the Accounting – Social/Behavioural specialization include: