Why I didn't get a Ph.D.

Jonathan Liljegren's Story

I guess you could say I had everything going for me to get into a great doctoral program in accounting. I had started working on research with Dr. Christensen and Dr. Black before I left on my mission gathering data for their Pro-Forma Earnings analysis papers. After the junior core I became the research assistant to Dr. Glover and was able to work on a few articles. I had entered the PhD Prep track with every intention of persuing a doctorate at a university that specialized in behavioral audit, but somewhere things changed. That somewhere was on Highway 101 in San Jose, California.

I had gone to San Jose to work for Ernst & Young during the summer. It was all part of the big plan to work in audit for a few years before going back to get my PhD (remember that I was an RA for Dr. Glover). The only problem was after two weeks of auditing Hewlett Packard I realized on my commute home from Palo Alto on Highway 101 that auditing was not for me. I admit that my dislike for audit doesn't necessarily mean that I couldn't pursue a doctorate in accounting. However, I came to realize that the tools I had been given in this life would be put to greatest use in consulting.

In a way I should have seen it coming. My goal when I graduated from high school was to get my accounting degree from BYU and work as a consultant for Arthur Andersen in the Bay Area. Well, that dream is never going to come true. But I did learn a lesson from my experience. As we are accepted to one of the best accounting programs in the universe we can loose sight of where we really want to go. Let me be clear that I really thought I wanted to be a professor, but the reason I was interested was becuase I could do frelance consulting on the side. So in a way, my potential side job has now become my career.

There is still a possibility that I will return to get a PhD Program someday