Promotion and Mobility in the Academic Accounting Career

Abstract

We examine the characteristics of an academic accounting career. Perhaps the most pressing question is:  how long does it take to be promoted from assistant to associate?  On average, assistant professors are promoted after 6.49 years, and just under half of faculty are promoted without moving to a different school. Male faculty are promoted slightly faster but move slightly more often. Many potential faculty also consider the tradeoffs between prestigious schools vs. less prestigious schools (for both obtaining a PhD and first placement as faculty), and we examine differences in careers between prestigious schools vs. less prestigious schools. We also examine promotions from associate to full.  Finally, we examine a number of additional variables, including the proportion for female vs. male faculty and non-minority vs. minority faculty over time, faculty switching from tenure-track to non-tenure-track positions and vice-versa, and faculty career length (overall, about 22 years).

Keywords: Academic accounting, academic mobility, promotion