The job market in accounting is projected to grow in the coming years. Our top seven list of online doctoral programs in Accounting takes into account rankings, accreditation, and affordability. Online Ph.D. programs in the U.S. are on the rise and institutions, both private and public, have begun online Ph.D. programs. The doctoral degree in Accounting is primarily an emphasis housed in Business Administration degrees. The following list provides the student options for online institutions that may suit their needs. All of the following institutions are accredited.
Recommended Online PhD Programs in Accounting
In constructing the list, a number of sites were used for research including U.S. News and World Report and The Guide to Online Schools.
1. George Fox University
George Fox University offers an online Doctor of Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting. It is a Christian university founded by Quakersand is located in Newberg, Oregon. George Fox University is ranked at #23 among regional universities in the west and #13 for veterans by U.S. News and World Report. The concentrations give the student a means to leverage skills in the workplace if they do not want to go into academic teaching and remain in their current industry. The Doctor of Business Administration gives the student skills as a generalist in business with emphases in specialist areas. George Fox University has 208 full time and 329 part-time professors throughout the institution.
The program is in a hybrid format so that people might pursue their professions while pursuing doctoral work. The majority of the coursework is done entirely online but students must meet with their cohorts on campus twice a year. These residencies take place near Portland, Oregon on the University’s Newberg campus and must be attended for the first three years of the program. The program, at full-time status, is meant to be completed in four years, with 1-3 years being coursework and the 4th year work on the dissertation. The degree includes forty-eight semester units, then comprehensive exams, and then eight credit hours for the dissertation including the dissertation proposal, dissertation research, and final defense.
Tuition is $844 per credit hour, equaling $47,264 for all the credit hours necessary for the degree. There is a $200 application fee, $400 one time research fee, and a $165 graduation fee. George Fox University is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities and the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs.
2. Liberty University
Liberty University offers an online Doctor of Business Administration with an emphasis in Accounting. U.S. News and World Report ranks Liberty University’s online graduate programs in business at #75 nationally. Liberty University is the largest private, not for profit online university and has been doing distance education since 1985. The Doctor of Business Administration with an emphasis in Accounting focuses on in-depth analysis of tax and auditing techniques as well as accounting theory. The program also introduces the student to accounting ethics. Liberty University attempts to train their graduate students to become accounting executives, auditors, budget supervisors, certified management accountants, and certified public accountants. Liberty University has a total student population of almost 50,000.
Liberty University is a private, Southern Baptist institution with about a $1 billion endowment. There are 1720 full-time professors with 1135 part-time teachers. 14% of the student population are in business, marketing, and management majors. Online programs are delivered entirely online and the Doctor of Business Administration is sixty credit hours in total. The admissions requirements are that the student hold a Master of Business Administration, Master of Science in Accounting, a Master of Science in Information Systems, or a Master of Science in management Information Systems with a GPA of 3.5 or better. Further, scores from the Graduate Management Admissions Test are necessary along with a number of other documents.
Tuition is $565 per credit hour, equaling about $33,900 for the entire program. There is a one-time application fee of $50 and a graduation fee of $100. Liberty University is accredited by the Southern Associations of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges as well as the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs.
3. Argosy University
Argosy University offers an online Doctor of Business Administration with a concentration in accounting. The program attempts to build on Master’s level work to produce doctorates with competencies in research and comprehension in theory and applied literature in a chosen concentration. Admissions requirements include a master’s degree in business administration, management, public or non-profit management, JD, LLM, engineering management, or degrees that concentrate on managerial knowledge; a minimum of three graduate credit hour or six undergraduate credit hours in accounting, finance, and economics; for the accounting concentration, at least twelve graduate hours in accounting; a graduate GPA of 3.0 or higher; and at least three years of professional management experience but preferably five years.
The Doctor of Business Administration degree is sixty credit hours which includes qualifying exams and doctoral research following coursework. The cost per credit hour is $775 and totals $46,500 just for the overall credits. Once in the program, students are to take four courses in their concentration in order to get credit for it. There are two residencies required of students throughout their program. Each residency is $900, totally $1800 over the course of the program. The purpose of the residencies is networking and meeting faculty. The residencies are offered at various locations throughout the United States. They last from a Thursday evening to Sunday afternoon.
Argosy University is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges while the Doctor of Business Administration is specifically accredited by the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs. The online programs are accredited by various agencies in different states. Check here for a list of states who have given accreditation to the online programs.
4. Capella University
Capella University offers a Doctor of Philosophy in Business Management with a specialization in Accounting. The program’s aim is to train experts to teach, consult and lead in businesses and other various organizations. The curriculum focuses on ethics, global perspectives, accounting technology, academic writing, research, and utilizes a systems-thinking approach. Capella University also provides an option for an international experience for its students. The trip is designed to help students network on a multi-national scale, gain cultural literacy, and help with learning how global operations work.
In the Doctor of Philosophy in Business Management, you begin your dissertation when you enter the program. Coursework is designed for the student to do research, determine the topic of the dissertation, and incorporates credited courses that have bearing on dissertation research. You will take research development courses in a sequential format to make dissertation writing seamless. Courses that help you develop your dissertation topic, methodology, literature review, and research plan are implemented as part of your course curriculum right from the start. Each research seminar begins in the online space but then is followed up with in-person residency for personal attention by faculty and to get feedback from colleagues. With expertise in accounting, Capella graduates have gone on to jobs as a business researcher, chief financial officer for businesses and corporations, dean of a business school or accounting program, senior accountant and the like.
Tuition for the program is $925 per credit hour up to six credit hours, which is full time. If one takes over six hours in a quarter, then tuition is capped at $5000. 90 quarter units are required for graduation. Some courses are four credits while others are three. If one were to take the minimum credits at the maximum price, tuition for the program would end up $83,000. However, if one takes more than six credits, the savings are substantial. Tuition would end up somewhere around $64,000 if one maximizes the savings the cap gives.
Capella University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and by the Accreditation Program for Business Schools and Programs.
5. Walden University
Walden University offers a Doctor of Business Administration degree with an emphasis in Accounting. In the accounting emphasis, students become experts in managerial accounting methods in order to elevate your organization or company’s competitive edge. Along with accounting skills, students study the ideas surroundings managerial decision making, corporate governance, and the evaluation of employees, both from a domestic as well as a global business perspective. Another skill that Walden University hopes to foster in their DBA Accounting students is the ability to communicate well with executives within the context of businesses.
The program requires two four-day residencies so that students might meet with faculty face-to-face, get in-person help with technology, writing and research skills, meet and network with fellow students, attend seminars and workshops to help your program move along, and to help develop your skills as a scholar. The first residency occurs ninety days after completing the Foundations Course while the second residency is to be taken right before the start of the Doctoral Study Project. The total time in residency between the two periods is eight days.
Walden University is a for-profit institution based in Minnesota. The University is in a global network of schools which includes The University of Liverpool, University of Roehampton, Xi’an Jiatong-Liverpool University, and Monash University. Courses are $950 per credit hour, with 60 credit hours total in the program. This places the program at about $57,000 total. There is also a $180 technology fee per semester and $2,750 total fees for both residency periods. Students can transfer up to 30 units to the program, cutting the cost to Walden University in half in terms of tuition.
6. Northcentral University
Northcentral University offers a Doctor of Business Administration with a specialty in advanced accounting. Northcentral University is a for-profit with its corporate headquarters in Prescott, Arizona. The university is entirely online and seeks to cater to professionals who either want to either get their first degrees, get a degree in a field different than their current profession requires, get an advanced degree in their field to enhance their current work, or for those who wish to simply take courses at their own leisure. Northcentral University was founded in 1996 and received regional accreditation in 2003.
Northcentral University is made up of three schools: School of Business and Technology Management, School of Education, and School of Social and Behavioral Sciences. The Business school claims, based on research from the American Institute of CPAs, that the field of CPAs is about to experience growth in the market. At Northcentral University, there are no residential requirements so that the student does not have to take off work. Rather, faculty meet with students one-on-one through Skype and other technologies.
There are no GRE or GMAT requirements. Classes cost $3,387 per course while the program as a whole costs $68,190. There is a one-time $450 learning management fee and a $100-course materials fee for each course. NCU is a WSCUC accredited institution. WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), 985 Atlantic Avenue, Suite 100, Alameda, CA 94501, 510.748.9001, www.wscuc.org. WSCUC is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). For program disclosures, visit www.ncu.edu/program-disclosures. NCU’s Bachelor of Business Administration, MBA, DBA and PhD-BA degree business programs in the School of Business and Technology Management are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs, 7007 College Blvd., Suite 420, Overland Park, Kansas, 66211, 913-339-9356.
7. Trident University
Trident University offers an online Doctorate in Business Administration with an emphasis in Accounting and Finance. Trident is a regionally accredited, private university that is completely online. The programs offered at Trident University are in business, health sciences, education, and information technology. 74% of the student body are serving or have served in the military. The Ph.D. program in Business Administration seeks to train researchers who can produce new knowledge in the field. Accounting and Finance majors contribute specifically to the subjects of international finance, financial management, taxation, and economic growth and development, among others.
The program not only has 60-course units, but also has comprehensive exams and a dissertation phase. The comprehensive exams focus on theory, research methods, and statistics as they relation to the research in your specific area.
Admissions requirements for the Business Administration Ph.D. program with an emphasis in accounting and finance include a master’s degree with no specified field, a minimum GPA of a 3.0 in a master’s degree, sufficient skill in both English and analytical and critical thinking skills, and the ability to deal with the technology for course participation.
Tuition per credit hour is $975 per credit hour for standard tuition while veterans and immediate family members pay $870 per credit hour. Current members of the military and their immediate family and Department of Defense Federal Civilian Employees pay $800 per credit hour. Dissertation continuing courses during the writing of the final project are $800 per course. Trident University charges $0 for course materials, $150 for a graduation fee, and $30 to set up a student payment plan for tuition.