Accounting and Finance

Entry requirements

A relevant Master's degree (UK or equivalent) with distinction-level performance, both overall and in the dissertation. In exceptional circumstances, applicants with an upper second-class honours degree and relevant research experience may be considered.

If you have studied outside of the UK, we would advise you to check our list of international qualifications before submitting your application.

Additional requirements

As part of your application you will also need to provide a viable research proposal of up to 5000 words which has potential to make a significant contribution to prior literature. Guidance can be found on our writing a research proposal webpage.

Months of entry

October

Course content

The Department of Accounting and Finance at Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) invites applications for PhD programme in Accounting and Finance. You will be working alongside world-leading academics in a busy, exciting and innovative department.

We are looking for highly motivated candidates who have an excellent first degree and outstanding Master's level degree performance. Qualifications should be in a related discipline to your intended PhD studies. You should also be committed to pursuing an academic career. We are offering full-time studentships to commence in October 2025. All studentships pay a generous living allowance (the 2023 ESRC award was £18,622 per annum) and offer a fee waiver for four years.

The department offers an excellent research environment, with a high level of collegiality, subscriptions to state-of-the-art databases, a strong seminar series, and a senior visitors programme. The Department of Accounting and Finance is one of the largest departments within LUMS – a world-ranked international business school that is highly regarded by the Financial Times, QS, The Economist and more. In the 2014 and 2021 Research Excellence Framework, LUMS was ranked first in the UK in research power and is one of few business schools whose programmes are accredited by the three major international business school accreditation bodies: AMBA, EQUIS and AACSB.

The Department offers a PhD Program in Accounting and Finance. PhD students are required to complete a portfolio of PhD level courses and seminars covering finance theory, econometric and statistical methods, and research methodology. Upon successfully completing the coursework, you will research and write a thesis on a topic you are passionate about. Two subject experts will offer detailed supervision to ensure it will contribute new knowledge to the academic community. You will also have the opportunity to gain international experience by visiting a leading US/European school with expertise in a relevant research area. We offer an excellent environment for PhD studies, including dedicated office space, generous funding of conference and research visits, access to many specialised databases, as well as scientific computing facilities and IT support.

The Department has been consistently building the strength of a doctoral programme for many years. It has developed comprehensive PhD training to enable our PhD graduates to succeed in the job market. Apart from training delivered by our own excellent faculty, our department regularly invites distinguished visiting professors from the best universities in the world to deliver doctoral tutorials on specialised research topics. Our PhD students have the privilege of being trained by world-leading scholars every summer and have extensive opportunities to consult external experts.

In recent years, our PhD graduates have successfully joined many excellent universities, research centres and institutions, including the Australian National University, Bocconi University, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Durham, LSE, Liverpool, Maastricht, Manchester, Monash, Oxford, and Warwick Universities.

Information for international students

We may ask you to provide a recognised English language qualification, dependent upon your nationality and where you have studied previously.

We normally require an IELTS (Academic) Test with an overall score of at least 7.5 and a minimum of 6.0 in each element of the test. We also consider other English language qualifications.

If your score is below our requirements, you may be eligible for one of our pre-sessional English language programmes.

Contact: Admissions Team +44 (0) 1524 592032 or email pgadmissions@lancaster.ac.uk

Fees and funding

Please visit our website for information on: Postgraduate Fees & Funding