So, you have a math PhD. Would you like to teach accounting?

Rebecca Knight in FT on an interesting experiment at some B-schools [link via Teppo Felin]:

Is it possible to convert an English literature PhD candidate into a marketing professor? What about an econ­omics professor into one who teaches corporate finance? According to John Fernandes, president of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the answer is Yes.

What's in it for a math PhD, who could become an accounting professor?

"A math professor makes $70,000 a year, while an accounting professor makes $115,000 and will make much more than that over the course of his lifetime. There’s a big economic incentive. Some liberal arts disciplines are way overproducing PhD candidates. They can’t possibly be absorbed by academia,” he says. “A business degree has a lot of portability.”

But some academics soooo don't want to change!

However, Mr Fernandes admits the programme has got off to a slower start than he had envisaged. He recognises that perhaps the bump in salary might not inspire the average philosopher to embark on the programme.

What a surprise!