Accounting Doctoral Scholars Program announced to boost Ph.D. faculty.

In late July, the CPA profession announced that an Accounting Doctoral Scholars program has been created to help reverse a shortage of Ph.D. accounting faculty in U.S. colleges and universities. More than 70 of the country's largest accounting firms and several state CPA societies have committed a total of $15 million to date. The program will be administered by the AICPA Foundation.

The firms will assist in identifying candidates for the ADS program and encourage them to become accounting professors in the audit and tax disciplines. Building a robust supply of accounting faculty was a recommendation in a Mar. 2008 report by the Subcommittee on Human Capital of the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession. The subcommittee endorsed increasing the number of accounting faculty members through public and private funding.

The Accounting Doctoral Scholars program will provide funding for up to 30 new candidates each year for 4 years for a total of 120 newly trained Ph.D.s in audit and tax. Applicants must have recent and proven performance in audit or tax in a public accounting firm. Potential...