The Accounting PhD pathway

Overview

The Accounting group at Cambridge Judge Business School has vast international experience and diverse research interests, centred around how business managers utilise information to make strategic decisions and how public companies report financial and non-financial information to key stakeholders.

Our faculty are committed to helping prepare and advise our students to complete the programme and take positions at leading research-based universities.

The pathway

To start on the Accounting pathway you must take one of the following 9-month masters programmes:

MPhil in Finance

Master of Research (MRes)

Research areas

Research by the Accounting group focuses on the creation, dissemination, attestation, interpretation, use, and governance of financial and environmental, social, and governance information.

Our key research areas include:

  • financial reporting standard setting
  • international financial reporting
  • strategic management decisions
  • performance management
  • target setting
  • management control
  • corporate and university governance
  • executive compensation and incentives
  • insider trading
  • audit and earnings quality
  • sell-side analysts
  • early stage entity accounting
  • accounting for financial institutions
  • environmental, social, and governance reporting
  • fair value accounting
  • disinformation

What we expect from you

We seek students interested in becoming academic researchers in leading universities.

You will need to have a first-class bachelors degree or equivalent. In some cases you will need to have a masters degree from a highly regarded university, and to have performed within the top 5% of your class.

For more details, please see the academic requirements for the:

MPhil in Finance

Master of Research (MRes)

What you can expect from us

You will be regarded as a junior member of a research-driven and very collaborative group of scholars. Our faculty have published their work in all top journals in accounting (and in some other business-related areas) and are committed to leveraging on their experience and expertise to mentor students and collaborate with them in research projects for publication in top academic outlets.

The size of the programme will be strategically kept small to allow for the level of attention we intend to devote to our students.

PhD supervisors

You will be allocated a principal supervisor within your pathway. A senior academic, often a Professor or Associate Professor, they will guide you through the programme, help you to succeed in the job market and assist you in gaining a faculty position at a leading business school. Your principal supervisor will take an active role in your research programme. During the PhD, they will assemble a group of faculty (your advisory committee), and members of this team will co-author papers with you.

For this pathway, view the research interests of these faculty that may serve as principal supervisor:

Jenny Chu

Associate Professor in Accounting

Research interests

Jenny Chu researches stock markets and financial information disclosure (earnings quality and capital market reactions to accounting information); sell-side analysts; management incentives and compensation; gender diversity..

Alan Jagolinzer

Professor of Financial Accounting

Not available to take incoming PhD students in October 2025

Research interests

Alan Jagolinzer researches financial reporting; international accounting; corporate governance; executive compensation and incentives; insider trading.

Rafael Rogo

Professor of Accounting

Research interests

Rafael Rogo researches financial reporting; information economics; regulatory oversight; sell-side analysts.

PhD advisory team

Dr Sarah Kroechert and Dr Marion Boisseau-Sierra are available to join a PhD advisory team.

Accounting faculty

Learn more about the faculty that teach on this pathway.

Learn more about the Accounting subject group

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