Accounting Education: The Real Facts about Who Teaches, Who
Studies?
Bruce Behn, David Leslie, and Susan Crosson
Supply of and demand for Accounting faculty
• The number of Accounting faculty has declined.
• The number of Accounting students has risen.
• The number of Ph.D.’s produced is lagging far behind prospective retirements.
Table 1: Total number of faculty by type of institution, 1993 – 2004
Accounting
1993 2004 Rate of change
Research/Doctoral 4501 4100 -9%
4-Year 7400 6806 -8%
2-Year 8400 6800 -19%
Total 20301 17706 -13%
Other business
Total +19%
All other fields
Total +22%
Figure 24: Enrollment of (full-time) undergraduate and (all) graduate accounting students, by type of institution, 1990 - 2000.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Res./Doct. 4-Year. Public 2-Year
Nu
mb
er in
100
0's
Total 1990
Total 2000
Figure 1b: Linear trends in transformed numbers (estimated) of Accounting faculty and students, 1993 - 2008.
4
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.7
4.8
4.9
1993 1996 2000 2003 2008
Tra
ns
form
ed s
cale
Linear (Students 2-year)
Linear (Students4-year)
Linear (Faculty2-year)
Linear (Faculty4-year)
Figure 14: Average annual production of Ph.D.s in accounting, 1980 - 2005
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
1980–84 1985–89 1990–94 1995–99 2000-04 2005
Ave
rag
e an
nu
al n
um
ber
of
Ph
.D.s
140 PhDs in Accounting were awarded in 2008, per Survey of Earned PhDs.
The age profile of accounting faculty suggests as many as 500 – 700 retirements per year in the foreseeable future, which, even if too high, suggests that there will not be enough new Ph.D.’s to replace them one-for-one. Plumlee’s (2005) survey of supply and demand for Ph.D. accounting faculty estimates demand at 350 – 590 per year between 2005 and 2007, and estimates there is supply to fill abut 50% of that demand, with supply unevenly matched to subspecialties.
Competition for Accounting talent.
• Half of new Ph.D.’s are foreign born.
• Salary inversion signals inadequate supply, competing opportunties, less attractive working conditions.
• Pay for non-tenure eligible Accounting faculty outpaces that in other fields.
• Outside income, higher ratio of part-time faculty point to competition for talent.
Basic salary from institution
Total income from the institution
Total income of respondent from all sources
N
Age in 1993
45 and under 44,744.25 48,584.44 71,418.58 2500
46 and over 65,751.48 73,323.75 99,172.30 4200
Age in 2004
45 and under 92,731.80 101,061.90 125,370.80 1500
46 and over 73,982.60 81,149.60 98,144.60 4400
[1] The age intervals were established to provide adequate cell sizes, given the NSOPF minimums.
Table 7a: Income of all Accounting faculty with Ph.D. or 1st professional degree, under/over age 45, 1993 (Inflated) – 2004[1]
Figure 17: Average base pay, full-time accounting faculty over and under age 41, 1993 (inflated) - 2004
30,000.00
40,000.00
50,000.00
60,000.00
70,000.00
80,000.00
90,000.00
1993 Inflated 2004
Age 41 and under
Age 42 and over
Linear (Age 41 and under)
Linear (Age 42 and over)
Figure 12a: Basic salary from institution, full-time NTE, 1993 (inflated) - 2004
35000
40000
45000
50000
55000
60000
1993 Inflated 2004
Con
stan
t d
olla
rs
Accounting
Other business
All other fields
Figure 12b: Basic salary from institution, part-time NTE faculty, 1993 (inflated) - 2004
6000
7000
8000
9000
10000
11000
12000
13000
1993 Inflated 2004
Con
stan
t d
olla
rs
Accounting
Other business
All other fields
Table 4: Tenure status of Accounting faculty by full- and part-time, 1993 – 2004
1993 Full-time Part-time Total
Tenured or eligible 8110 90 8200
Not eligible 2263 9837 12100
Total 10373 9927 (49%) 20300
2004 Full-time Part-time Total
Tenured or eligible 6419 281 6700
Not eligible 2191 8709 10900
Total 8610 8990 (51%) 17600
Figure 18: Average total hours worked per week reported by full-time accounting faculty at 4-year institutions, '93 - '04
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
Hours worked '93 Hours worked 04
Figure 25: Trend in Student Credit Hour productivity by type of institution and full- vs. part-time accounting faculty, 1993 - 2004.
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
Res/Doct. 4-Yr.NonDoct 2-Yr.
Ind
ex o
f S
CH
pro
du
ctio
n p
er f
acu
lty
mem
ber
.
FTSCH93
FTSCH04
PTSCH93
PTSCH04
Figure 20: Percentage of time reported on research, full-time accounting at 4-year institutions, '93 - '04
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
Time on research 93 Time on research 04
Ave
rag
e p
erce
nta
ge
of
tim
e o
n r
esea
rch
.
Figure 10a: Mean number of hours per week paid work NOT at institution, part-time NTE's.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Accounting Other business All other
Mea
n n
um
ber
of
ho
urs
1993
2004
Demographics changing
• Accounting faculty aging.
• Retirement rate accelerating.
• Fewer males, more females.
• High rate of entry by Asian-origin.
Figure 11: NSOPF estimated number (1000's) of male accounting faculty under age 40 and over age 55, 1993 - 2004
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
Males93 Males04
Under age 40
Over age 55
Linear (Under age 40)
Linear (Over age 55)
Figure 12: NSOPF estimated number (1000's) of female accounting faculty under age 40 and over age 55, 1993 - 2004.
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
Females93 Females04
Under age 40
Over age 55
Linear (Under age 40)
Linear (Over age 55)
Figure 13: Mean years to retirement, full-time accounting faculty by type of institution, 1993-2004
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
1993YrstoRetire 2004YrstoRetire
Me
an y
ears
to
ret
irem
ent
Res/Doct
4-Year
2-Year
Number of male and female Accounting facjulty, 1993 - 2004.
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
16000
Male93 Female93 Male04 Female04
Nu
mb
er o
f A
cco
un
tin
g f
acu
lty
Male93
Female93
Male04
Female04
Percent of Ph.D.'s by gender, 2008
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Al l fi elds Al l Business Accounting
% Female
% Male
Figure 8: Change in ethnic composition of tenure-eligible faculty by teaching field, '93 - '04
-15
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
20
Acc
ounting
Com
puter s
cien
ces
Busi
ness
Oth
er s
ocial
sci
ence
s
Oth
er e
ducatio
n
1st
-pro
fesi
onal h
ealth
sci
ence
s
His
tory
All
other
pro
gram
s
Fore
ign la
nguages
Bio
logic
al s
cien
ces
Polit
ical
sci
ence
s
Engin
eerin
g
Mat
hemat
ics
and s
tatis
tics
Soci
ology
Agric
ulture
/hom
e ec
onomic
s
Tea
cher
educa
tion
Englis
h and li
tera
ture
Occ
upatio
n pro
gram
s
Oth
er h
ealth
sci
ence
s L
aw
Philo
sophy
and re
ligio
n
Phys
ical
sci
ence
s
Eco
nomic
s
Psy
cholo
gy
Fin
e ar
ts
Com
munic
atio
ns
Nurs
ing
Per
cen
tag
e ch
ang
e
Change in %White
Change in %Black
Change in %Asian
Change in %Hisp.
Change in %Other
Over 40% of Accounting students are in community colleges.
• Mostly female.
• Older.
• Otherwise employed.
• Diverse.
• Higher “risk.”
Figure 1a: Enrollment trend, Accounting majors by type of institution, 1990 - 2008
0
50
100
150
200
250
1990 1996 2000 2008
Num
ber r
epor
ting
Acco
untin
g m
ajor
, in
1000
's.
2-year
4-year non-doctoral
4-year doctoral
Table 28: Gender of Accounting majors (percent female) by type of institution, 1990 - 2008. 1990 1996 2000 2008
2-year 68.5% 67.4% 77.8% 70.0%
4-year non-doctoral 56.9% 64.6% 63.1% 56.8%
4-year doctoral 52.6% 58.8% 51.4% 58.9%
Figure 18a: Age distribution of Accounting majors by type of institution, 2008.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
0 to 1819 to 22
23 to 2627 to 30
31 to 3435 to 40 > 40
Age in years
Perc
ent o
f stu
dent
s in
age
inte
rval
.
2-year
4-year non-doctoral 4-year doctoral
Figure 20: Work status of Accounting students while enrolled by type of institution, 2008.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
2-year 4-year non-doctoral 4-year doctoral
Per
cen
t o
f st
ud
ents
in in
dic
ated
job
sta
tus.
No job
Part-time
Full-time
Figure 17: Percent of 2-year Accounting students by race/ethnicity, 1990 - 2008.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
1990 1996 2000 2008
Per
cen
t
White
Black
Hispanic
Asian/Pacific Islander
All other
68% of Accounting students at 4-year institutions were White in ’08.
Figure 22: Cumulative number of risk factors reported by Accounting students by type of institution, 2008.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Per
cen
t o
f st
ud
ents
rep
ort
ing
ris
k fa
cto
rs.
2-year
4-year non-doctoral
4-year doctoral
CC faculty differ from 4-year/research univ. faculty.
• More part-time (2/3).
• Increasingly female.
• Otherwise employed.
• Less likely to hold terminal degree.
• More likely to have highest degree in other field.
• Much heavier teaching load.
Table 6: Gender of community college accounting faculty, 1993 - 2004. 1993 2004
Percent change
Male 5300 3900 -26.4%
Female 2300 2800 +21.7%
Total 7600 6700 -11.8%
Percent male 69.7% 58.2%
Table 7: Part- and full-time status of community college Accounting faculty by gender, 1993 – 2004. 1993 2004
1993
2004
Part-time
Part-time
Percent change in part-time faculty.
Full-time
Full-time
Percent change in full-time faculty.
Male 3551 2968
-16.4%
1749 932
-46.7%
Female 1594 1459-8.5%
706 1341+89.9%
Figure 5: Age distribution of Accounting faculty in 2-year institutions by gender, 2004.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
0 to 3031 to 34
35 to 3940 to 44
45 to 4950 to 54
55 to 59 > 60
Age in years
Per
cen
t o
f re
sp
on
de
nts
in in
terv
al
Male
Female
Table 11: Percentage of Accounting faculty at 2-year institutions reporting "other employment" than their teaching job, 1993 - 2004. 1993 2004
Part-time 88.60% 72.70%
Full-time 34.50% 21.10%
Total 71.10% 55.20%
Table 15: Percent of Accounting faculty in 2-year institutions holding indicated highest degree, 1993 – 2004.
1993 2004
Ph.D. or 1st Professional 9.60% 11.22%
Master's 60.80% 70.47%
Baccalaureate or less 29.60% 18.31%
Table 17: Field of highest degree earned, Accounting faculty in 2-year institutions, 1993 - 2004. 1993 2004
Accounting 51.3% 50.8%
Other business 31.6% 37.3%
All other fields 17.1% 11.9%
Figure 10: Mean number of classes taught by full-time Accounting faculty by type of institution, 1993 - 2004
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
1993 2004
Mea
n n
um
ber
of
clas
ses
tau
ght
2-year
4-year non-doctoral
Research/doctoral
Issues/Questions
• Accounting faculty work harder,
• Aging faster,
• Replacing slower.
• Becoming more female, more minority (esp. Asian).
• Relying on non-core (not tenured, no Ph.D., part-time, otherwise employed).
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