Jump to content
Urch Forums

Accounting phd research types and articles


TaxGal

Recommended Posts

Hi all I'm going to be applying here soon for 2018 entry into an accounting program. I don't have research experience so the different styles of research are unfamiliar to me. I think I would like empirical and a financial or managerial focus because I love statistics but I'm still unsure and want to really narrow my goals before I apply.

 

I would ask accounting student or graduates if you could share articles you've enjoyed over your studies from different areas and methods. I've read a few articles but I don't know really how to differentiate methods of research so I'm just picking random titles and reading. If anyone could please put the article name where or how to access the article and research method it would greatly help me and maybe other prospective students.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Accounting research can broadly be split into three methods and four topical areas.

 

The methods would be:

Archival

Experimental/behavioral

Analytical

 

Topical areas would be:

Financial/capital markets

Managerial

Tax

Audit

 

So you basically have a 3x4 matrix of types of research. Pretty much across all topical areas, archival is the most common research method. Experimental/behavioral is probably most prevalent in managerial and audit, and less prevalent in financial and tax. Analytical is probably most prevalent in managerial.

 

I am not sure what you've already read, but I'd probably start with some review papers. Review papers can help you find other papers that you might be interested in reading.

 

In tax the most recent comprehensive review paper is "A Review of Tax Research" by Michelle Hanlon and Shane Heitzman, there is also a recent review paper on tax avoidance research by Jaron Wilde and Ryan Wilson titled "Perspectives on Corporate Tax Avoidance: Observations from the Past Decade."

 

In audit the most recent comprehensive review paper is "A Review of Archival Auditing Research" by Defond and Zhang. As the title suggests, this does not cover behavioral/experimental work, someone may be able to chime in and give a suggestion for a review paper that covers that area.

 

You may find this website helpful as well: What is accounting research? - PhD Prep Track

 

It provides some suggested readings by topical area.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...