Assessing the Shortage of Accounting Faculty

In April 2004, Bill Felix, then president of the AAA, appointed the Ad Hoc Committee to Assess the Supply and Demand for Accounting Ph.D.s (The Committee), charged with documenting the existence of any shortage of new Ph.D.-qualified accounting faculty. The Committee conducted surveys with three separate groups: accounting department heads or chairs, accounting Ph.D. program directors, and current accounting doctoral students. Collectively, these groups reported an overall shortage in new accounting faculty with particularly acute shortages in audit and tax specialties. The Ph.D. student survey revealed differences in perceptions between North American and non-North American doctoral students and also provided information on doctoral students' perception of significant program-related stress. Among the Committee's recommendations are that the AAA create an attractive, stimulating, and informative website for potential doctoral students, and that efforts be made to reduce the costs imposed on doctoral students—including personal costs such as stress—in order to make doctoral studies more feasible.