PhD Program

The Accounting PhD program at The Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California Irvine is an intensive program of study about modern accounting research. Students are exposed to the principal theories and methodologies used to investigate the effects of accounting practices and corporate taxation on capital markets, managerial behavior, performance evaluation systems, corporate governance, regulation, and the economy in general. Because the field of accounting is broad, the program is highly individualized to allow students to pursue their specific areas of interest. The goal of the Accounting PhD program is to help prepare graduates for successful and productive careers as faculty members at leading researchoriented universities. A unique hallmark of our program is the high level of individual attention that our outstanding faculty give students. This special characteristic permits students to develop their talents fully to become excellent researchers and teachers. We have a diverse set of faculty who are leading researchers in accounting and related fields. They are widely published in many areas of accounting including auditing, behavioral accounting, financial accounting, managerial accounting, and taxation. The rigorous training graduates receive from the faculty makes the PhD program a leading one in the nation. Students admitted to the Accounting PhD program receive a five-year financial support package covering tuition, fees, and a stipend. This support is provided through a combination of fellowship, teaching assistantships, and research assistantships. In addition to a world-class faculty and a thriving learning and living environment, The Paul Merage School of Business distinguishes itself for its highly personalized attention and service. From faculty to staff to fellow students, we want to nurture and challenge you, and we want you to succeed.

Our Current PhD Students by Year

5 Qiao (Annie) Wang 4 Shijun Xia 4 Il Sun Yoo 3 Dennis Ahn 3 Haomiao (Holly) He 3 Charles Lee 2 Hau Xiang (Daniel) Leong 2 Yifei Liao 1 Manduo Liu 1 Jialin (Jacqueline) Tang

Notable Student Accomplishment

Il Sun Yoo named recipient of prestigious 2022 Deloitte Foundation Doctoral Fellowship. The Deloitte Foundation awards 10 such fellowships each year with a financial fellowship of $25,000 across two years. The Foundation receives over 60 to 70 applications per year from the leading PhD granting schools in the U.S. and the naming of Sun as UCI’s first-ever recipient is a testament to his performance in our Accounting PhD Program. Sun’s research interests include disclosure, law and regulations, and customer-supplier relationships. His dissertation is titled “When Friends Become Foes: Proprietary Information Disclosure After Failed M&A Deals.” In addition, Sun has a paper with a revise and resubmit decision at Contemporary Accounting Research.

Recent PhD Accounting Graduates

Aruhn Venkat (Graduated 2020)

Aruhn Venkat earned his PhD in Spring of 2020 and serves as an Assistant Professor at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. His research broadly focuses on the consequences of business taxation. Several of his studies focus on the “real” effects of taxation. For instance, his dissertation focuses on the corporate investment effects of state-level bank taxation. Other research focuses on the interaction between taxes and labor. For instance, a paper published in The Accounting Review finds evidence that employees respond negatively to news media coverage of their employers’ tax avoidance. His research has been presented at numerous conferences, including, most recently, the 2022 American Taxation Association’s Annual Meeting, the 2022 Hawai’i Accounting Research Conference, the 2021 National Tax Association Annual Meeting. Venkat received the Ray Watson Fellowship to fund, in part, his PhD. He obtained his bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California, his JD from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and his Master’s degree in economics from the American University. Shaphan Ng (Graduated 2021)

Shaphan completed his PhD in Management from the University of California, Irvine in 2021. He currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Accounting at the School of Accountancy, Singapore Management University. Shaphan’s research largely examines the effect of tax policies on corporate decision making. He has published his work in The Accounting Review and has presented his research at the American Taxation Association Midyear Meeting and the SMU Accounting Symposium. Before joining academia, he was an equity research analyst at an investment bank.

Shijia Wu (Graduated 2021)

Shijia Wu earned her PhD in June 2021 and serves as an assistant professor of accounting at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. Wu’s primary research interest is in the area of understanding the fundamental changes in information acquisition and dissemination in the digital age. She studies how manager and investor behavior are affected by accounting information, specifically the visual presentation of the information. Her studies uncover how managers behave strategically in disclosing accounting information to take advantages of investors’ behavioral biases in information processing. She also conducts research on social media as the information intermediary, and earnings management. Her research has been published in Review of Accounting Studies and Journal of Financial Reporting. Wu received the Merage School Graduate Fellowship to fund her doctoral research. Her research was presented at several conferences, including the 2019 AAA Annual Meeting, 2019 CAPANA Research Conference, 2020 AFA PhD Student Poster Session, 2020 AAA Western Region Meeting, 2020 AAA Annual Meeting, and 2021 Hawaii Accounting Research Conference. She obtained her MS degree in accounting from Pace University and a BA degree in Financial Engineering from Shanghai Normal University.

Student Testimony

Qiao (Annie) Wang, PhD anticipated graduation year ’23

Why did you choose UCI? I chose UCI because the research faculty have very diverse research interests and are experts in their research areas. These advantages allow me to get exposed to a variety of research topics and receive high-quality training. Moreover, the interactions between faculty and students are intensive, which is super important to a young researcher like me.

What is your most memorable moment/experience at UCI to date? There are a lot of memorable moments at UCI. I remember my meetings with my advisors and all the valuable insights and advice I received. I remember my presentations and how my advisors help me overcome stress and improve my presentation skills. I remember the times when all students get together, and we share both our life and research experiences. All these moments will last forever.