PhD in Business program track Accountancy

Tilburg University’s Ph.D. program in Accounting is offered by one of the most productive faculties in Europe. Consistently ranked among the best European schools, Tilburg’s Accounting group is known for its innovative research in financial accounting, managerial accounting, auditing, and tax. 

The specializations of our faculty members cover the wide field of accounting and include capital markets research, investor communication, (behavioral) management accounting, and (behavioral) auditing. Our faculty members often work across disciplines leading to top publications in accounting, finance, economics, psychology, and operations management. The department has close connections with auditing and consulting firms.

You are part of our group!

As a PhD student you will be an integral part of our department from day one! Since we work intensively with our PhD students, we only accept a small number of new candidates each year. Besides extensive training in theory and state-of-the-art research methods you will benefit from the department’s strong research focus and its numerous resources (e.g., databases, research seminars, brown bags and reading groups, career planning, skills-enhancement workshops, international conferences, contacts with practitioners, etc.). Our department has a lively, informal, and intellectual culture that invites fruitful discussions and exchange of ideas with faculty members and colleagues. 

Get up to speed with state-of-the-art research methods

The first year of the PhD-program is largely devoted to rigorous training in accounting research, economics, behavioral science, econometrics, and research methods. From the beginning, you are encouraged to work on creative research together with faculty members. The last two to three years of the PhD-program consists of completing the dissertation under supervision of one or more faculty members. PhD-students always write at least one single-authored paper that will be their job market paper.

Placement records

We place our PhD-students in top schools in the US, Asia, Australia, and Europe. Students have published their dissertation chapters in top journals, such as Journal of Accounting Research, The Accounting Review, and the Journal of Accounting and Economics. Uniquely in the world, four Tilburg Ph.D. students (Michal Matejka, Peter Kroos, Huaxiang Yin, and Victor van Pelt) together with their supervisors have earned the distinguished American Accounting Association’s Dissertation Award of the Management Accounting Section.

Placements:

• Nanyang Technological University, 2014, 2023 
• Erasmus University Rotterdam, 2017, 2023 
• University of Bern, 2023 
• VU University Amsterdam, 2009, 2022 
• University of Amsterdam, 2015, 2021 
• University of Manchester, 2020 
• WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management, 2019 
• University of Washington, 2019 
• University of Melbourne, 2015 and 2016 
• University of Chicago, 2007 
• University of Southern California, 2002

Key publications

View recent publications of the accounting group

Faculty

Meet the faculty of the accounting group and their research interests