chuck Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 Long time reader, first time poster here. Lots of great information on accounting PhD's in this forum, so thanks to all contributors. Thought I'd ask a question I haven't yet seen. I am considering pursuing a PhD in accounting. I currently work as a tax associate at a local but reputable CPA firm with about 60 accountants. I noticed that many current accounting PhD students come from big 4. All things equal, how detrimental is it to my application that my experience is from a smaller firm, rather than big 4 or a national firm? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAmazingSteve Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 Maybe as the schools include (some) emphasis on teaching it matters? Otherwise, no one really cares. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsaylors Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 Long time reader, first time poster here. Lots of great information on accounting PhD's in this forum, so thanks to all contributors. Thought I'd ask a question I haven't yet seen. I am considering pursuing a PhD in accounting. I currently work as a tax associate at a local but reputable CPA firm with about 60 accountants. I noticed that many current accounting PhD students come from big 4. All things equal, how detrimental is it to my application that my experience is from a smaller firm, rather than big 4 or a national firm? I think the causal arrow goes the other way. That is, people with good enough GMAT scores and high enough UGGPAs that are good enough for Ph.D. programs are often the same that are good enough for big-4 accounting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phdhope Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 There are so many factors that come before firm prestige in accounting PhD admissions that I would not worry about it. I can almost guarantee your admission/rejection will be based on other factors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck Posted June 11, 2013 Author Share Posted June 11, 2013 Thanks for your responses. Very helpful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxPhD Posted June 17, 2013 Share Posted June 17, 2013 Just to echo the sentiments of others, I think it will have very little to no bearing on whether you are admitted to a program or not. The big 4 firms are by far the largest accounting employers as well, so we would expect that they would make up a larger portion of the work experience for accounting doctoral students. However, I worked at a specialty tax firm with 5 people, and I know many other current accounting PhD students who did not work for the Big 4. And I do not think it impacted any of us in terms of admissions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck Posted June 23, 2013 Author Share Posted June 23, 2013 Thanks much taxPhD. That's encouraging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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