DBA Program admission - is Master's degree always required

Discussion in 'Business and MBA degrees' started by murumanie, Oct 12, 2016.

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  1. murumanie

    murumanie New Member

    Hi everyone. I have been looking at DBA Programs. I was wondering if a MBA or MSc is always a requirement?

    About me:

    I am currently a Chief Financial Officer for a small-medium sized business. I have a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Accounting (2008) and hold a Canadian Chartered Accountant designation (2011). I am primarily motivated to study for a DBA for personal and professional growth. I have always been attracted to the idea of academic research. When I finished my undergrad, I thought about continuing on with a MSc in Accounting and PhD but the return on investment is poor. Yes, tenure track professors have a good lifestyle, but six more years of studying and making basically nothing was not appealing to me (nor to my future wife).

    I am not planning to make a career change but more interested in learning the research skills and helping my organization by applying those skills to specific business problems. I do enjoy teaching and giving back to my profession and might consider it as something additional on the side in the future but not my main career.
    I don't think having the DBA by itself will have any impact on my earning potential. However, I'm hoping that the rigour and disciplined approach to a academic research will give me a skill-set that ultimately translates to a better bottom line for my company.

    My company offers a Professional development budget and I am sure I can get the budget increased and for the company to sponsor me through my DBA if the total costs is ~$60,000 max over 4 -5 years.

    I would prefer a degree that is 100% online or max one or two face-to face sessions a year.

    I've been looking at University of Liverpool, Heriot Watt, and of course Athabasca University here in Canada. There are lots of others in the UK but they way over the budget such as Manchester or not the type or program I'm looking for like Middlesex University.

    So the question is whether or not a program will accept me with just a professional accounting designation or should I get an MBA first? I am not very interested in an MBA. It's really the qualitative and quantitative research skills that I am interesting in learning and applying.
     
  2. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Basically all DBA programs will either require a Master's degree for entry, or else will require you to take all of the Master's level courses first as part of your DBA program. There's no "skip the Master's" shortcut.
     
  3. Stanislav

    Stanislav Well-Known Member

    Well...

    British listed bodies in Accountancy all insist their qualifications are an equivalent to Master's degree. You could try to advance an argument that your CA is equivalent to a designation that's equivalent to Master's. CICA does have a mutual recognition agreement with ICAEW, after all. I can see either Heriott Watt or Liverpool going along with this argument.

    Alternatively, you can first get ICAEW or AIA designation by reciprocity, and then get one of those top-up Master's degrees, by completing one or two modules plus a thesis. These are often relatively inexpensive and can be completed in well under a year. Here's one:
    Accounting and Finance (Top-up) | The University of Northampton
     
  4. murumanie

    murumanie New Member

    thanks for the answers. Looks like an MBA might still be the best route.
     
  5. Stanislav

    Stanislav Well-Known Member

    MBA is a valuable thing in its own right, so it can certainly be the best route.

    If the ultimate goal is the DBA, though, I'd say it's worth a try inquiring whether your CA designation satisfy the requirement, or doing the top-up. I looked it up, and ICAEW only requires a fee for a member of CPA Canada in order to become an ACA. From this, a Master's is less than GBP3000 and under a year.
     
  6. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    HAHA! That's right, the night shift guy at the convenience store just got his and I've heard there's a plan to put him in charge of the ice machine.:sgrin:
     
  7. murumanie

    murumanie New Member

    I checked and Northampton University will accept a Canadian CPA without registering with the ICAEW and then applying.

    Right now I'm looking more at the Athabasca Executive MBA. Employer has agreed to fund most of it and I think I can get some government funding for the rest.
    I think the MBA will have more value to me just for the networking aspect alone in the in-residence sessions.
     

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