Fisher Ph.D. candidate receives Deloitte doctoral fellowship

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Devin Williams, a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate at the Fisher School of Accounting, was one of 10 Ph.D. students in the U.S. to receive a $25,000 grant through the Deloitte Foundation Doctoral Fellowship program.

The grant is awarded to students who plan to pursue academic careers upon graduation, and will support the recipients during their final year of coursework and the subsequent year to complete their doctoral dissertation. Williams’ dissertation investigates how the existence of auditors of non-public companies affects the market for audits of public companies in the same geographic area. Other scholarly work includes analysis of audit firm industry specialization and the impact of SEC standards on the production and use of financial statements.

“Receiving the Doctoral Fellowship from the Deloitte Foundation is an honor,” Williams said. “This award is a testament to the great faculty and students we have. Our program continues to grow stronger and contend with other top-tier accounting programs worldwide. Receiving this award also lends credibility to my research interests, and I hope it helps me obtain a tenure-track faculty position at a university with a strong reputation for both scholarly research and teaching.”

Prior to pursuing his Ph.D. at the Fisher School, Williams worked in Deloitte’s Dallas office as a Senior Associate, Audit from 2008-2011. He interned at Deloitte in Summer 2007.

Additionally, Williams was named an American Accounting Association (AAA)/Deloitte/J. Michael Cook Doctoral Consortium Fellow in 2013, and an American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) Accounting Doctoral Scholar (2011-15).

Williams is expected to receive his Ph.D. in Accounting in April 2016. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from Brigham Young University in 2008.

Approximately 100 universities are invited to apply for the fellowship each year. Applicants are nominated by the accounting faculty of their school. A selection committee composed of four eminent accounting educators chose this year’s recipients. Other schools represented were Columbia University, Cornell University, Duke University, Emory University, Indiana University, New York University, Stanford University, the University of Georgia and the University of Texas.