Accounting Ranks First Worldwide

According to a new study from a team of researchers at Brigham Young University, the University of Washington Foster School of Business Department of Accounting ranks first in contributions to the area of financial accounting research.

The study ranks accounting programs from around the world by topical area based on the number of articles published in top journals over periods of 19, 12 and six years. Topical areas include accounting information systems, auditing, financial, managerial, and tax.

For the 19-year period of measurement, the Foster School of Business Department of Accounting topped the list in the topical area of financial accounting, followed by Stanford University Graduate School of Business, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.

The Foster School was ranked second and first respectively for the 12-year and 6-year periods.

Topping the list of scholarly contributions to the field of financial accounting is no small feat given the number of researchers devoted to the topic. According to the authors, “…looking between the various disciplines, it is obvious that it is more difficult to be a top school in finance than a top school in other disciplines.”