PhD in Accounting

Distinguish your education

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

PhD in Accounting Program Flyer Meet Current Students    Explore FAQs 

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.  The 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 structure of the program can be found here. 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:

 

  • Corporate Disclosure

  • Information Intermediaries

  • Market Microstructure

  • Corporate Governance

  • Executive Compensation

  • Corporate Social Responsibility
     

  • 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

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

Qiuhong Zhao
PhD: 2010
Placement: University of Missouri at Columbia
Dissertation: Credit Rating Agency Efficiency: Credit Watch, Monitoring Role, and Effects of Earnings Management

Greg Martin
PhD: 2009
Initial Placement: University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
Current Placement: Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
Dissertation: Shareholder Rights’ Relation to Earnings Management: A Pre- and Post-Sarbanes Oxley Examination

Boo Chun Jung
PhD: 2007
Placement: University of Hawaii, Manoa
Dissertation: Information Asymmetry and the Relations between Dividend Increases, Risk and Expected Future Earnings Changes

Stephan Fafatas
PhD: 2006
Placement: Washington & Lee University
Dissertation: Audit Failure, Auditor Reputation, and Risk Management Strategies

Yanhua “Sunny” Yang
PhD: 2006
Initial Placement: University of Texas, Austin
Current Placement: University of Connecticut
Dissertation: Earnings Management as a Response to the Threat of Exchange Delisting

Ran Zhang
PhD: 2006
Placement: Peking University
Dissertation: Cash Flow Management and Its Market Pricing

Veronda Willis
PhD: 2005
Placement: University of Texas - San Antonio

David Paul Weber
PhD: 2005
Placement: University of Connecticut

Jialin Kevin Sun
PhD: 2005
Placement: University of Hawai at Manoa

Sung Wook Yoon
PhD: 2004
Placement: Winona State University

Rafael Lara
PhD: 2003
Placement: Concordia University - Montreal Canada

Dov Fischer
PhD: 2003
Placement: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby B.C.

When are concurrent quarterly reports useful for investors? (2023)
Review of Accounting Studies
Jesse Glaze – University of Colorado Boulder (PhD 2022)
Nikki Skinner – University of Georgia (PhD 2019)
Andrew Stephan – University of Colorado Boulder

Facilitating tacit collusion through voluntary disclosure: Evidence from common ownership (2022)
Journal of Accounting Research 
Andrea Pawliczek – University of Colorado Boulder (PhD 2017)
Nikki Skinner – University of Georgia (PhD 2019)
Sarah L.C. Zechman – University of Colorado Boulder

The usefulness of corporate income tax accounting: Evidence from pension returns (2022)
The Accounting Review 
Marc Cussatt – Clemson University (PhD 2014)
Paul Demere – University of Georgia

Forecast withdrawals and reporting reputation (2022)
The Accounting Review 
Nathan Marshall – University of Colorado Boulder
Nikki Skinner – University of Georgia (PhD 2019)

Income smoothing through R&D management and earnings Informativeness (2022)
The Accounting Review 
Bok Baik – Seoul National University
Katherine Gunny – University of Colorado Denver
Boochun Jung – University of Hawaii at Manoa (PhD 2007)
Duri Park – Sogang University

Organized labor and inventory stockpiling (2022)
The Accounting Review 
Sophia Hamm – Tulane University
Boochun Jung – University of Hawaii at Manoa (PhD 2007)
Woo-Jong Lee – Seoul National University
Daniel Yang – The Ohio State University

A new take on voice: The influence of BlackRock's "Dear CEO" letters (2021)
Review of Accounting Studies 
Andrea Pawliczek – University of Colorado Boulder (PhD 2017)
Nikki Skinner – University of Georgia (PhD 2019)
Laura Wellman – Pennsylvania State University

Performance-vesting share award outcomes and CEO incentives (2021)
The Accounting Review 
Andrea Pawliczek – University of Missouri (PhD 2017)

Legal expertise and the role of litigation risk in firms' conservatism choices (2021)
The Accounting Review 
Jonathan Black – Purdue University (PhD 2015)
Chad Ham – Washington University in St. Louis
Michael Kimbrough – University of Maryland

Manager perception and proprietary investment disclosure (2021)
Review of Accounting Studies 
Caleb Rawson – University of Arkansas (PhD 2018)

Does the media help or hurt retail investors during the IPO quiet period? (2020)
Journal of Accounting and Economics 
Brian Bushee – University of Pennsylvania
Matthew Cedergren – University of Pennsylvania
Jeremy Michels – University of Pennsylvania (PhD 2014)

Discretionary disclosure and management horizon: Evidence from patenting (2020)
Review of Accounting Studies 
Stephen Glaeser – University of North Carolina
Jeremy Michels – University of Pennsylvania (PhD 2014)
Robert Verrecchia – University of Pennsylvania

The debt-equity choice when regulatory thresholds are based on equity values: Evidence from SOX 404 (2020)
The Accounting Review 
David P. Weber – University of Connecticut (PhD 2005)
Yanhua Sunny Yang – University of Connecticut (PhD 2006)

The association between SFAS No. 157 fair value hierarchy information and conditional accounting conservatism (2018)
The Accounting Review 
Jonathan Black – Purdue University (PhD 2015)
Jeff Zeyun Chen – Texas Christian University
Marc Cussatt – Washington State University (PhD 2014)

Bridging the gap: Evidence from externally hired CEOs (2018)
Journal of Accounting Research
Yonca Ertimur - University of Colorado at Boulder
Caleb Rawson - University of Colorado at Boulder (PhD 2018)
Jonathan L Rogers - University of Colorado at Boulder
Sarah L.C. Zechman - University of Colorado at Boulder

Risk-based forecasting and planning and management earnings forecasts (2017)
Review of Accounting Studies
Christopher Ittner – University of Pennsylvania 
Jeremy Michels – University of Pennsylvania (PhD 2014)

Disclosure versus recognition: Inferences from subsequent events (2016)
Journal of Accounting Research    
Jeremy Michels - University of Pennsylvania (PhD 2014)

Shell games: the long-term performance of Chinese reverse-merger firms (2015)
The Accounting Review    
Kevin K Li - University of Toronto
Charles M.C. Lee - Stanford University
Ran Zhang - Peking University, Guanghua (PhD 2006)

Does SOX 404 Have Teeth? Consequences of the Failure to Report Existing Internal Control Weaknesses
The Accounting Review    
Sarah C. Rice - Texas A&M University at College Station
David P. Weber - University of Connecticut (PhD 2005)
Biyu Wu - University of Connecticut

Issuer operating performance and IPO price formation (2015)
Journal of Accounting Research    
Michael Willenborg – University of Connecticut
Biyu Wu - University of Nebraska at Lincoln
Yanhua Sunny Yang - University of Connecticut (PhD 2006)

National culture and corporate investment (2013)
Journal of International Business Studies        
Liang Shao - Hong Kong Baptist University
Chuck C Kwok - University of South Carolina at Columbia
Ran Zhang - Peking University, Guanghua (PhD 2006)

Financial Reporting Quality and Labor Investment Efficiency (2013)
Contemporary Accounting Research
Boochun Jung – University of Hawaii (PhD 2007)
Woo‐Jong Lee – The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
David P. Weber – University of Connecticut

Audit quality and the trade-off between accretive stock repurchases and accrual-based earnings management (2012)
The Accounting Review    
Brian M Burnett - Indiana University at Bloomington (PhD 2011)
Bradrick M. Cripe - Northern Illinois University 
Gregory W. Martin - Indiana University at Bloomington (PhD 2009)
Brian P. McAllister - University of Colorado at Colorado Springs

Earnings smoothing activities of firms to manage credit ratings (2012)
Contemporary Accounting Research
Boochun Jung – University of Hawaii (PhD 2007)
Naomi Soderstrom – University of Colorado Boulder
Yanhua Sunny Yang – University of Connecticut (PhD 2006)

Do unverifiable disclosures matter? Evidence from peer-to-peer lending (2012)
The Accounting Review
Jeremy Michels – University of Colorado at Boulder (PhD 2014)

Do financial analysts' long-term growth forecasts matter? Evidence from stock recommendations and career outcomes (2012)
Journal of Accounting and Economics    
Boochun Jung – University of Hawaii at Manoa (PhD 2007)
Philip B. Shane – University of Virginia, McIntire
Yanhua Sunny Yang - University of Texas at Austin (PhD 2006)

How effective is internal control reporting under SOX 404? Determinants of the (non-)disclosure of existing material weaknesses (2011)
Journal of Accounting Research    
Sarah C. Rice - University of Connecticut
David P. Weber - University of Connecticut (PhD 2005)

Earnings management using real activities: evidence from nonprofit hospitals (2011)
The Accounting Review
Leslie G. Eldenburg - The University of Arizona
Katherine A. Gunny - University of Colorado at Boulder
Kevin W. Hee - San Diego State University (PhD 2008)
Naomi Soderstrom - University of Colorado at Boulder