RESEARCH CORNER

Life in academia: myths and realities

"You know, the best part about being a professor is that we get four months off in the summer." I remember cringing when I heard someone say that on television a while ago. More recently, I read the following in an issue of Maclean's: "More than likely, pursuing a Ph.D. program will leave you some combination of broke and unhappy. There are more pleasant ways of being ill-paid in this world, and more remunerative ways of being unhappy."* Yikes!

Such are the misconceptions about academia, both good and bad. These beliefs may hold true in some disciplines and for some academics, but they are very far from the reality in either the field of accounting or, more generally, the field of management.

It's a shame that few accounting students consider becoming professors, as it is, I would argue, a rewarding career path. There's no doubt that the coursework and thesis preparation of a doctoral student are challenging, but with these challenges comes intellectual stimulation.

As a general rule, accounting graduate students in the 50 or so doctoral programs in Canada and the United States are well supported financially through their respective programs with scholarships and assistantships in research or teaching. Most students complete their programs in five or six years, with seven or more years being very rare. Few exit their programs with any meaningful amounts of debt, and a job in accounting is almost guaranteed upon graduation given the continuing shortage of professorial candidates.

But how does it pay? While money shouldn't be the main motivation for pursuing a career in academia, I recognize that it does matter. Contrary to popular belief, management professors make a decent amount of money. When I combined my knowledge of the academic market with the results of the 2005 CICA Compensation Survey, I found that the incomes of accounting professors were actually higher than the average earnings of CAs who had comparable years of post-CAqualification experience. For example, the earnings of a professor with six to ten years of experience were typically at the 75% percentile of the distribution of earnings for CAs with similar experience (say, 11-15 years post-CA-qualification). This level of earning may come as a surprise to some, but I believe it is justified-and should be expected-given the additional years of study required for a CA to earn a doctorate degree.

As for the four-month summer break? Well, many professors like myself actually work through the summers. However, we do get to set our own hours.

So if you're looking for a challenging and intellectually stimulating career that capitalizes on the accounting knowledge you've already spent years acquiring, why not consider applying for a doctoral program? Aside from the financial compensation you'll receive, you'll have the opportunity to influence an entire generation of accounting students and interact with other intellectuals from around the world at academic conferences.

There is no other job I'd rather have.

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