Salary Question for Doctoral Graduates

I am curious for those that got their doctorate degree, particularly a Phd in a business field or the DBA, and you transitioned into academia, what is your salary range like? I have seen the AACSB salary survey's but is that more for those that graduated from traditional programs with Phd's? I am just curious to what I have to look forward to when I hopefully leave corporate america and go into academia full time. I have a B.S. in Accounting, MBA, soon to start on my doctorate, and hopefully will have my CPA under wraps before I graduate, so I hope to have a strong package to present to the universities, and can get a decent salary. This 9-5 thing is for the birds

 

Typically, business faculty command some of the highest salaries at the university level. It is not uncommon to start in the 50K (or even 60K) range for a brand-new assistant professor.

Keep in mind that university faculty jobs are HIGHLY competitive. Just having a business PhD or DBA will not be sufficient. If you are serious about a full-time academic career, you will need to consider that being a professor requires a combination of scholarship, service and teaching. For business faculty, experience is also necessary.

Scholarship -

1) Become active in the professional associations in your field of interest.
2) Attend the associations' conferences regularly (this will likely be your main source of networking with those who might hire you).
3) Present at the conferences. This will make you familiar to your professional perrs and help to establish your academic reputation.
4) Establish a research agenda and engage in and publish research, especially in the major refereed (peer reviewed) journals in your field. You will undoubtedly be competing against candidates who are doing this already. If you have no journal publications, you will not be a viable candidate for a full-time tenure-track faculty position at most universities.

Service -

1) Volunteer to serve in the professional associations. There are generally numerous opportunities on various assoication boards.
2) Donate some of your expertise to community, civic or church groups.
3) Serve on any committees that you can.

Teaching -

1) Gain experience as an adjunct faculty at the university level. Almost no university will offer a full-time teaching position to someone without a record of successful teaching. Business departments often hire practitioners from the field to teach courses. Even teaching experience at the community college level will be beneficial.
2) Be sure to keep your teaching evaluations (both from students and from peer/dept. chair observations). This will become the "evidence of successful teaching" required by many universities.

Experience -

1) It is not enough to have an accounting degree and a CPA (or even a PhD). Business is one area where they do not have to tolerate the "those who can't do...teach" situation. If you wish to teach accounting, for example, they will want to know your practical "hands-on" accounting experience in the field. Knowledge of theory will not suffice. If you have years of experience actually doing the things that you plan to teach, your application will be much more competitive.

Best of luck in your endeavors and I hope that you land a choice faculty position.

Tony Piña
Administrator, Northeastern Illinois University

 

Tony is Correct... up to a point

To get tenure, not all three areas are equal. Taking about 90%+ of the measure is publications in refereed journals. Teaching excellence? Oh oh... that will hurt you (I am serious). That is considered time away from research. As a young man, I got a teaching award at a Research I university and heard the whispers "kiss of death." It was true... but now I am happily tenured at a community college so who cares? haha.

 

Thanks Mr. Pina

Great post. I think I will print it out and keep it! Well let's see....I was told at Argosy that they encourage you to get published, so hopefully I will have something published prior to graduating. I already have teaching experience in the accounting field. I teach for UOP now, and have taught at the community college level. I actually want to try to pick up a course at a community college here in Atlanta. I serve on community service organizations already, I am active in that aspect. Once I become a student I want to join the American Accounting Association and the Financial Management Association. They both have great conferences and are excellent orgs from what I hear. The only thing is to get the student rate they say you have to be a full time student. I will be part time, since I am working full time as well. I sit on the board of two small businesses as well. Let's see there's something else in your post I wanted to comment on. Let me go back and re-read it.

 

Other comments

I remember my other comments/questions now. When you say present at conferences, you actually are reading some of your work, or one of your articles or what? How do you actually get a chance at presenting at these conferences?

Also I am familiar with the names of the journals in my field, Journal of Accountancy, Accounting Review...etc. But how do I find out which one's are referred journals or which ones are "the" journals to be published in? I guess I have a lot of things to learn when I go back to get my doctorate huh?

The good thing is I have over 10 years of accounting experience, so by the time I get my doctorate it will be over 13, so at least I'll have that experience under my belt as well.

Again thanks for the great post and advice!

 

An alternative is to teach for adult-oriented schools. But their salary structures aren't any better. If you teach as an adjunct to UoP, you have some idea.

Academics, whether for-profit or not-for-profit, doesn't involve getting rich. Or, even, very comfortable. They pay you just enough to make it possible for you to do what you love. That's about it.

 

"I am familiar with the names of the journals in my field, Journal of Accountancy, Accounting Review...etc. But how do I find out which one's are referred journals or which ones are 'the' journals to be published in?"

Prestige is closely associated with citedness. Social Sciences Citation Index includes a component called Journal Citation Reports which lists (among other things) the most cited journals in each field.

Relatively few accounting journals are included in Journal Citation Reports. I'm not familiar with this area, so I identified them solely by the titles. According to JCR, the top accounting journals (based on citations per article) are

3.8 Journal of Accounting and Economics
1.5 Journal of Accounting Research
1.5 Accounting Review
0.6 Accounting, Organizations and Society

The scores on the left (impact factors) indicate the relative citedness of each journal. All four journals are likely to be very well regarded, however, since only the top accounting journals seem to be included in JCR.

The Journal of Accountancy is definitely refereed, but it doesn't seem to be in quite the same league as these four.

Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory and The Serials Directory both claim to indicate which journals are refereed (peer-reviewed), but neither directory is entirely accurate. To check whether a particular journal is refereed, I'd probably look at the inside covers of the journal, the journal's web page, and individual articles. (If the authors thank any anonymous reviewers, then it's definitely refereed.)

 

Tony, I just wanted to echo appreciation for this excellently concise blueprint that you've provided for professionals and scholars alike. Thanks for the input.

 

Re: Other comments

Originally posted by dst10spr97
I remember my other comments/questions now. When you say present at conferences, you actually are reading some of your work, or one of your articles or what? How do you actually get a chance at presenting at these conferences?

Depending on the association that his hosting conference and the scope of the conference, your presentation could be based on:

--research that you have conducted
--a paper that you have written
--a current or past program that you have implemented
--an opinion piece of where your field should be going
--a practical application of your discipline (e.g. best practices)
--other stuff

Most associations that sponsor conferences will post information about the conferences on thier websites. This will include a call for presentations. Read this carefully, as it will let you know the types of presentations that they desire to have at thier conferences. If the associations have links to prior conference programs, this can provide valuable information, since you can see the titles (and sometimes descriptions) of presentations that have been accepted in the past.

Also I am familiar with the names of the journals in my field, Journal of Accountancy, Accounting Review...etc. But how do I find out which one's are referred journals or which ones are "the" journals to be published in? I guess I have a lot of things to learn when I go back to get my doctorate huh?

I know which are "the" journals for my discipline (instructional technology & distance learning). Professionals in your field (such as Dr. Walters above) can provide the best information as to "the " journals for accounting.

However, I can answer the referred journal question. Typically, the journal's description found in its opening pages will state specifically that it is refereed or peer-reviewed (both mean the same thing). Also, the journal will list an editorial board, usually with at least a dozen professors, and/or other professionals. This editorial board members are the ones who actually do the reviewing.

The good thing is I have over 10 years of accounting experience, so by the time I get my doctorate it will be over 13, so at least I'll have that experience under my belt as well.

This experience will, most definitely, make you very competitive compared to brand new PhDs/DBAs with little or no practical experience in the field. If you work on the publishing/presenting, you should have a very strong vita for a faculty position.


Again thanks for the great post and advice!

I have benefitted much from what others have posted on Degreeinfo. I'm glad when I have a chance to help out a bit as well.

Tony Piña
Administrator, Northeastern Illinois University

 

I knew he was smart

I just had to post this, after reading Anthony Pina's excellent post the other day I just have to say that I was reading another book called Getting What You Came For, The Smart Students Guide to Getting a Masters or Phd (or the title was something like that) and in one of the chapters they were saying this is the most important thing and you should tattoo this on your arm (jokingly of course). In order to be most successful in a doctoral program and beyond you should:

Attend Conferences
Publish Academic Papers
Get on Committees

I think Pina is on to something here!! Again thanks for the advice.

 

Excellent post, Tony. No doubt about it. Thank you.

 

I just recently read a good book on this topic---"A PhD. Is Not Enough" (Peter J. Feibelman, Persus Books, 1994, ISBN: 0201626632) (I actually read it on an airplane travelling to a professional conference to give a paper) which is an excellent and easy read about what do do after you get your doctorate and start your academic career. The above points brought up by Tony Pina are right on target! I have established my own Balanced Scorecard approach for measuring my research, service to school, teaching, and professional associations, that I use to go over my progress/accomplishments with my mentor (senior full tenured professor). It works!

 

Re: I knew he was smart

That is an excellent book, and Anthony's advice has always been right on the money.

 

You all are so nice. I just like to help where I can.

Tony

 

Re: Other comments

Two sources to check:

1. www.isworld.org has ranking lists for the IS field and some related business disciplines.

2. http://www.bi.no/templates/bibliotek____21092.aspx has some ranking from the Norweigen School of Management

3. Science journals - http://www.geocities.com/iipopescu/Jo_rankingb.htm

Regards - Andy

 

Phd is not enough...

Isn't this book for those in the sciences though? They need to do a book for those in the business related fields....

Everything I see is for sciences, engineering, etc.

 

Isn't this book for those in the sciences though? They need to do a book for those in the business related fields....

Yes its true--the book (A PhD Is Not Enough!) was written by a science-type professor, but many of the recommendations, suggestions, lessons learned, and so forth identified in the book, I am told, apply to all disciplines.

 

About USD50 an hour if you are giving tuition to DBA students.