Accounting and Finance PhD Program

• Introduction
• Program of study
• Admission
• Supervisors and areas of research interest
• Current PhD students, topics and supervisors
• Completed PhD students, topics and supervisors
• 2010 Postgraduate Research Scholarships

Introduction

The Department of Accounting and Finance offers the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) across a number of campuses and international boundaries. The PhD program is designed to provide students with rigorous academic grounding in their area of specialisation, the skills required to undertake original research, as well as oral and written communication skills to facilitate the dissemination of the results of their research. While the Department's PhD program is often undertaken by students wishing to pursue an academic career, the program also caters to those who wish to explore career opportunities outside academia.

Excellent academic staff-to-student ratios foster high quality supervision and continual interaction between students and academics characterises a close collegial relationship between academics and higher degree research candidates. Currently, approximately 60 staff are involved in the supervision of 58 higher degree research students within the Department dedicated to leading edge research in four accounting and finance discipline areas:

Financial Accounting and Auditing. The overarching themes of research in this discipline are the economic determinants and consequences of choices by managers, preparers and auditors of financial reports as well as the costs and benefits of regulation. The group's research draws from the theoretical base of economics and focuses upon rational economic decisions - be they managers' accounting policy choices, auditors' decisions or investors' assessments of the value of equity in relation to changes in accounting practices and regulatory developments.

Finance. A broad range of academic endeavour occurs in this discipline with research strengths in asset pricing, corporate finance, banking and funds management. There is a strong presence in the specific areas of equity issuance decisions, testing of the Fama-French multifactor model, role of liquidity and idiosyncratic volatility in asset pricing mutual fund and hedge fund performance, risk and volatility modelling and interest rate and foreign exchange risk modelling. In banking, the group examines the impact of governance, approaches to risk management, regulation and ownership of financial institutions (commercial banks, Islamic banks, microfinance institutions, mutual funds and insurers) on their competitive standing, risk, performance, efficiency and product offerings.

Management Accounting. The common theme of the group is to study "management as practice" - the ways in which productivity and performance can be improved in organisational settings. The group is driven by real business problems and issues that emerge from active industry engagement. Consequently, the issues and problems change over time, for example, the shift in study from quality management to innovation, the emergence of supply chain issues and the adoption by the public sector of management practices from the private sector.

Accounting Information Systems (AIS). The research focus of the AIS group is concerned with the convergence of information technology with business processes, business models, knowledge and governance. By understanding the human and organisational dimensions, the research offers insights into current practices, the uptake of information technology systems, factors that influence the business impact of these technologies and technical support for improving operational and strategic decision-making.

Successful completion of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at Monash University signifies the holder has completed a course of postgraduate training in research under proper academic supervision, submitted a thesis that external examiners have declared to be a significant contribution to knowledge and demonstrated the capacity to carry out independent research.

Alumni include Professor Tim Brailsford (Head, UQ Business School, University of Queensland), Professor Steve Easton (Newcastle Business School, University of Newcastle), Professor Robert Faff (Professor of Finance and Director of Research, Department of Accounting and Finance, Monash University), Dr Muliamon Hadad (Deputy Governor, Bank of Indonesia), Dr Helen Mignot (Productivity Commission) and Professor Lee Parker (Professor of Commerce and Associate Head Research, School of Commerce, University of Adelaide).

The Department of Accounting and Finance makes a significant contribution to the accounting and finance disciplines through high quality, leading edge programs, linkages to the professional bodies and business community and the relevance and impact of its research.

For details on the program of study please click here.