Program Overview

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Accountancy

Overview

MPhil/PhD students work alongside researchers within the following research themes:

• Capital markets
• Case study research
• Corporate finance
• Corporate governance
• CSR
• ESG

The University of Exeter Business School

Contact

Web: Enquire online
Phone: (UK)
+44 (0) (non-UK)

How to Apply

Entry Requirements

To be considered, PhD applicants need to meet the following entry requirements:

• A good undergraduate degree (in the UK, at least an upper second class honours) in a relevant subject
• A taught Masters degree in a relevant subject

If you are an international student, please visit our international equivalency pages to enable you to see if your existing academic qualifications meet our entry requirements.

English Language Requirements

International students need to show they have the required level of English language to study this course. The required test scores for this course fall under Profile B2 : view the required test scores and equivalencies from your country.

Deadlines

We consider applications to our PhD programmes three times a year:

• 31st January
• 31st May
• 30th September

Application Documents

To be considered for our PhD programme, you need to submit the following documents by either of the above deadlines (incomplete applications will not be considered):

1. A research proposal that you have developed with a potential supervisor (no more than 2000 words)
2. A letter from this potential supervisor stating that they are willing to supervise you
3. A personal statement that explains why you wish to complete your PhD in our department and why you think you are well suited to this programme of study (no more than 600 words)
4. Academic transcripts from your relevant studies to date (see entry requirements below)
5. Two academic letters of reference from teaching staff at your previous institutions
6. If necessary, evidence of English language ability (see entry requirements below)
7. If you have them, results from a GMAT or GRE test that are not more than 5 years old.

Fees and Funding

Tuition Fees per year 2025/26

• Home: £5,006 full-time; £pro-rata part-time
• International: £23,000 full-time

For those studying for more than one year, our fees are expected to increase modestly in line with Consumer Price Inflation measured in December each year. More information can be found on our Student Finance webpages.

Current Funding Opportunities

Our Postgraduate Funding webpage provides links to further information. If you are considering a PhD in the future, in addition to University of Exeter funding, we have been successful at securing postgraduate funding for PhD research through our Funded centres.

Supervision

You can expect:

• High-quality research supervision to develop and nurture your potential
• A tailored supervision approach to help best suit your requirements
• Accessible supervisors who are enthusiastic about working directly with postgraduate research students
• Regular timetabled meetings with your supervisor
• 'Open door' policy to all postgraduate students - instant access to world-leading researchers who will share their expertise and ideas with you
• Regular meetings with your supervisory team, other members of your research group, and mentors

Training

Your Future: Your Training Needs

The skills and expertise that you build now are fundamental to your continuing professional development (CPD), and will be part of your toolset throughout your working life, whether academic or elsewhere. We’re also very keen that you should consider taking part in the University's Postgraduate Researchers' Programme which offers training in a wide range of generic and transferable skills in key areas such as research management, personal effectiveness, communication skills, networking, team-working, and career management.

External Training Experiences

We can source most training requirements within the University of Exeter, but where this is not feasible, for instance on specialist software, or cutting-edge methods or techniques vital to your studies, we work with partner organisations like research councils, professional associations and training companies to provide external training.

Careers

Skills Training

The skills and expertise that you build now are fundamental to your continuing professional development (CPD), and will be part of your toolset throughout your working life.

We strongly recommend that our students take part in the University's Postgraduate Researchers' Programme, which offers training in skills such as:

• Research management
• Personal effectiveness
• Communication
• Networking
• Team-working
• Career management

Working While Studying

The Business School provides research students with many opportunities to develop skills in teaching, as well as other forms of employment (both academic and non-academic). We actively support students who wish to take on ad-hoc or part time work during their studies.

The School has a Code of Practice for Employment, which complements the University's central Code of Good Practice for the Employment of Postgraduate Students. If you wish to undertake employment during your studies, you must ensure that you read both the School Code and the University Code before commencing any duties.