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[acct3]

Hello everyone,

I am new to the forum and new to the world of accounting PhD programs, having recently decided to pursue my PhD in accounting.  One of the areas that I'm researching is the different accounting PhD schools and trying to learn what interest areas are supported (or at least engaged in) by each.  Through use of the forum search tool, I've found a hefty amount of very helpful information - especially these three postings by Octoprof:

http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,46113.msg898102.html#msg898102
http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,45155.msg770141.html#msg770141
http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,45155.msg771324.html#msg771324

(Thank you, Octoprof!  Your work is helping newbies years after you wrote it!)

Now, we reach the point of my question: one of the areas in accounting that interests me is the projection of financial performance for both future periods and prior periods (where the projection is "but for" an event like a flood or another firm's action). Is this what is described as "quantitative" on Dr. Hasselback's listing of graduates? http://www.jrhasselback.com/AtgDoct/XSchDoct.pdf  If not, is there a better category or better term to describe this? 

As a bonus question, is anyone aware of PhD programs and/or professors who are working in this area?  I would greatly appreciate learning about them, as just knowing a school or name would greatly speed up the rest of my school research.  (PMs are fine if you don't want to post to the thread.)

Thanks in advance!

~ Acct3

[ptarmigan]

Generic advice: find some journal articles in the areas that interest you and look at their authors.

[acct3]

Generic advice: find some journal articles in the areas that interest you and look at their authors.

Oh yes, I will be doing that - I am new to academia but I deeply research everything before moving forward.  Eventually I will discover the faculty/programs I'm looking for in that manner... but if someone or somewhere popped in to someone's head while they were reading my main question, the data would not go amiss and would speed the process. :-)

~ Acct3

[acctphd]

I sent you a pm.  As far as the question you posted, in the literature there are many, many ways to measure performance. Some of the biggest are ROA or abnormal stock return measures. Normally you would tie some sort of firm accounting characteristic and try to prove that you could predict future performance based off this characteristic. 

Not quite sure what you mean by quantitative. There are 3 main fields of accounting research: behavioral, empirical, and theoretical.  All 3 are quantitative in varying degrees.

[obprof]

Re non-quantitative research: There is a branch of accounting that uses deconstruction and critical theory to analyse different accounting policies. I don't think this is what the OP is looking for.

[acct3]

Re non-quantitative research: There is a branch of accounting that uses deconstruction and critical theory to analyse different accounting policies. I don't think this is what the OP is looking for.

Obprof, to clarify, do you mean that the "Quantitative" catagory that I'm asking about is used to analyze accounting policies?  If so, then you're right, that's not exactly what I'm looking for...

[octoprof]

OP, Hasselback's categories are only vaguely useful and not at all applicable to what you are looking for, I think.  First, no where are teaching and research categories separated there, so quant could mean many things, including a prof who researches capital markets or who teaches statistics. Also, since the informations in the directory comes from departments and not individuals, it is riddled with errors - most info comes from the dept secretary, honestly.

The suggestion above to read the related literature and see who writes on the topic is much more likely to yield useful info.

More later when I do not have to type on the blasted iPhone.

[octoprof]

PS. OP, the non accounting folk here will have little idea what categories you are talking about nor who or what Hasselback is.P

[acct3]

OP, Hasselback's categories are only vaguely useful and not at all applicable to what you are looking for, I think.  First, no where are teaching and research categories separated there, so quant could mean many things, including a prof who researches capital markets or who teaches statistics. Also, since the informations in the directory comes from departments and not individuals, it is riddled with errors - most info comes from the dept secretary, honestly.

Octoprof, thanks!  With your advice, I now understand that I'm attempting to use a tool (the accounting doctorate listings) in a way that isn't very helpful to my goals.  I'll pursue the journal/book author method recommended by everyone and revisit the doctorate listings later when I want to learn more about an individual school.