Carnegie Mellon University

Requirements for a Ph.D. in Accounting

Students successfully completing the accounting doctoral degree program are awarded a Ph.D. in Accounting.

Ph.D. students in Accounting must fulfill all of the general Tepper School Ph.D. requirements, in addition to any area specific requirements.

  • Students are expected to attend and participate in our workshops and annual conference.
  • By the end of the third semester, Accounting students must pass a qualifying exam on Accounting and the Economics qualifying exams on Microeconomics I and II and Econometrics I and II.
  • Students with specific interests can substitute qualifying exams in Operations Research or Organizational Behavior for Economics, with faculty approval.
  • Students with appropriate preparation prior to their entry to the program may choose to take the qualifying exams prior to the third semester, however, they must take the entire set of qualifiers as outlined above.

In addition, students must complete an external minor consisting of three mini-semesters of additional coursework in a related area. Generally, students in Accounting will minor in economics, finance, statistics or mathematics.

With the assistance of an adviser, students enjoy considerable flexibility in working out their actual programs of study.