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PhD

Accounting

This PhD specialisation provides candidates with rigorous training at the research frontier in Accounting.

Specialisation objectives

The specialisation in Accounting prepares candidates for the international academic job market, positions in research organisations, auditing and consulting firms, as well as national and international institutions like accounting standard setting bodies, financial regulators (e.g. SEC, Finanstilsynet, …) or other relevant policy institutions. We encourage candidates with strong quantitative and analytical skills and an interest in Accounting, Finance or Economics to apply.

Distinguishing features

  • The Accounting specialisation has a joint intake of students with the specialisations in Finance and Economics. Hence, candidates share some courses and are part of a larger group of recently admitted PhD students to BI.
  • Courses are offered by local faculty, invited international researchers or through cooperation at the European level. This allows candidates to early build their own network within academia.
  • Research is relevant from the start of the programme since candidates are expected to write summer papers under faculty supervision. This allows students to quickly present research findings at international conferences.

Advantages of being a PhD candidate at BI

Fully funded scholarships

All PhD candidates receive financial support when accepted into the programme. The candidates are hired as full-time employees on an initial four-year contract. Continuation of the support through the four years of the programme is dependent on good standing and regular progress towards completing the programme’s requirements. PhD candidates are entitled to full parental leave and health insurance, and are part of the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund. The workplace is BI Norwegian Business School at its main campus in Oslo.

What you can expect

The four-year study programme leading to a PhD degree is designed to allow you to conduct in-depth research. In addition, it is comprised of a course component, seminars, PhD committees, pre-doctoral defence, and lastly, dissertation and final defence. 25% of the time is reserved for teaching.

The Department

The Accounting unit of the Department of Accounting and Operations Management is divided into two sub-groups: One group conducts quantitative (formal analytical and archival) research in the areas of financial accounting and auditing. The other group focuses on qualitative research in management accounting and control.

The financial accounting and auditing group members have multidisciplinary backgrounds in accounting, economics and finance. The group’s ambition is to conduct high-quality research and its members publish in renowned international accounting journals such as The Accounting Review; Accounting, Organizations and Society; Journal of Accounting Research; Management Science; and Review of Accounting Studies, but also in top finance journals like the Review of Finance.

The management accounting and control group is also multidisciplinary, with backgrounds in accounting, arts, economics, finance, management, psychology, and technology, and has published in renowned journals such as Journal of Management Accounting Research; Management Accounting Research; Journal of Management Control; Journal of Accounting and Organizational Change; and Qualitative Research in Accounting and Management. The ambition of the group is the become a research cluster on the interface between digitalization and management control.

Areas of research

The research and teaching interests of the faculty members of the Accounting group are both theory- and application-oriented. Examples include:

  • Financial accounting
  • Bank accounting, pension accounting
  • Disclosures, financial reporting quality and earnings management
  • Auditing
  • Audit market regulation
  • Economics of accounting information, economics of auditing
  • Corporate governance
  • Management Control
  • Management Accounting
  • Performance measurement and management
  • Digitalization and accounting change
  • Enterprise Risk Management
  • Cash Flow Management
  • Value Creation and Monetization
     

The group hosts The Scandinavian Accounting Research Conference and Doctoral Consortium and a research seminar series.