MRes/PhD Accounting (Accounting, Organisations and Institutions)

The Department of Accounting at LSE is one of the leading groups in the world for teaching and research on the economic, institutional and organisational aspects of accounting and financial management. Our PhD programme provides rigorous academic training aimed at preparing students to undertake research of the highest international standards.

You will benefit from a truly international and interdisciplinary environment. You will have access to a wide range of taught courses and research seminars across different departments and research centres within the School. You will work closely with faculty in the Department throughout the programme, and you will interact with leading scholars from other universities thanks to our active external workshop series. All students admitted to the programme are fully funded, and financial assistance is also available for you to present your work at conferences.

You will be expected to complete the programme within five years. In the first two years, you will take a set of core and elective courses in accounting and related fields and complete a research paper. After the second year, you will focus on your PhD thesis.

Our programme is structured in two tracks: The Accounting, Organisations and Institutions (AOI) track, which is devoted to the study of interrelationships between accounting, organisations and institutions, and the Economics of Accounting (EoA) track, which primarily examines accounting and financial reporting issues from an economics perspective. Below you find more information about the AOI track.

Research in the AOI track is mainly qualitative in approach, focusing on the accounting process within and across organizations. Our intention is that your chosen topic will involve the investigation of how accounting practices are shaped by their institutional contexts, have behavioural consequences and can be vehicles for operationalising different values. Efforts to design internal and external accounting practices are both a function of specific economic and political interests, but are also shaped by social and political aspirations. Research in this track can potentially embrace a wide variety of accounting areas, such as studies in management accounting and organisational control processes, analyses of the impact of new accounting systems in the private and public sector, event-based work on transformations of auditing and risk regulation regimes, historical studies of accounting, as well as broader contributions to social theory.

Progression and assessment

To progress at the end of each year, you must pass your examined courses at grades specified by the Department and make satisfactory progress in your research. Progress is regularly monitored by the Department's PhD Assessment Review Committee.

You will also need to meet certain criteria to progress to PhD registration, such as achieving certain grades in your coursework, and earning a minimum mark on your research paper.

In each year of the programme, you are required to do a presentation in a seminar attended by fellow students, supervisors and other members of faculty. This provides a source of academic feedback on your work and helps to develop your presentation skills.

Your final award will be determined by the completion of an original research thesis and a viva oral examination.

Careers

Students who successfully complete the programme often embark on an academic career.

Support for your career

Many leading organisations in the field give careers presentations at the School during the year, and LSE Careers has a wide range of resources available to assist students in their job search. Find out more about the support available to students through LSE Careers