How to write an accounting dissertation

Your dissertation is often one of the key components to your degree. As such, it is very important to avoid the pitfalls and to work in a coherent and organised fashion. The dissertation process can be cut into three phases. First, the conceptualisation part of the dissertation. This is where you attempt to formulate an appropriate question for your essay. Second, the research and planning section of the essay. This is where your accounting dissertation takes on its structure and the aims of the accounting dissertation are identified, along with other work done in whichever field you wish to conduct your studies. Third, the actual writing of the dissertation. Providing the previous two sections of the essay are conducted appropriately, this should actually be the easiest part of your accounting dissertation.

1. Concept

Although it is often overlooked, coming up with an appropriate question for your accounting dissertation is often the most important part of the process. Although at this stage the accounting dissertation concept does not have to be concrete, it is important that the dissertation process is determined by a relatively focussed angle of questioning. It is important to work to your specific strengths and against your weaknesses: if you are good at interpreting statistics rather than discussing theory, attempt to angle your accounting dissertation towards these concepts. Discuss an appropriate question with your tutor. Because they will be marking the dissertation, it is important to go over the main details with them. Also, it is important when conceptualising an accounting dissertation to look at the research that has already been done on the subject. Look at online journal databases and read up on the abstracts available, but be careful at this stage not to get too embroiled in the research available. The important thing at this stage of the accountancy dissertation is to identify gaps in the field of research while incorporating specific things from these essays. Always make brief notes of the information available for future reference. Remember that research is always important when constructing your literature review for your accounting dissertation, and that any work done now will prevent you from having to repeat yourself at a later date.

2. Research and planning

Once a relatively concrete abstract has been completed for your accounting dissertation, where a distinct avenue for research has been identified, the hard work of looking through the available material and conducting your own research programme begins. It is important to be aware of the journals available for conducting this research, and if you are using primary material for your accounting dissertation, it may be necessary to do this research as soon as possible. Time management and a knowledge of the available resources is very important in an accounting dissertation. Be careful not to carefully read or scrutinize every paper that is even vaguely linked to your own: it is often good enough to scan read or simply read the introduction and the conclusion for papers that do not have a strong relevance to your own paper. Also, remember to continually make brief notes and take quotations: these will come in very handy at a later date during your accounting dissertation.
Before you begin to write the first draft of your accounting dissertation, make sure that you have a coherent plan of action. Remember that an accounting dissertation runs in the following order: title, abstract, introduction, literature review, methodology, results and findings, conclusion, bibliography. Your accounting dissertation needs to be relatively strong in all of these departments. Identify where other economists have constructed strong arguments down a similar field to yours, and put this into your plan. Try to break the research material for your accounting dissertation into groups: this makes it easier to write and to organise the material for your accounting dissertation at a later date.

3. Writing

Hopefully, you have left enough time at this stage to write and proof read your accounting dissertation, and you have a coherent and thorough plan of action for constructing your dissertation. If this is the case, the actual writing of the accounting dissertation should be relatively easy. Because there is a large bulk of information to write and to cover, many people are perturbed by the length of the material that has to be written in an accounting dissertation. However, while an accounting dissertation can be a scary prospect when considering it as one huge bulk of information, it becomes much easier if it is cut into bite-size chunks. Your plan should be cut into various discrete sections both to ensure that all the angles of your accounting dissertation are covered and that you and your marker are less likely to get confused.

Concentrate on writing the bulk of your accounting dissertation beforehand: it is important to work originally on the literature review and the results and findings section of your accounting dissertation. This is because this section tends to inform the other sections of your accounting dissertation. Make sure that your accounting dissertation contains an appropriate mix of your own ideas and of critics in the field. It is important to demonstrate both a knowledge and an engagement with the knowledge that is available. When composing your essay, try to write in an accessible and natural way about the subject in question; try to imagine yourself as the tutor who has to read through a myriad of accounting dissertations. Obviously, a good accounting dissertation will be one that is coherently planned, readable and follows a logical structure. Make sure to leave an appropriate amount of time for proof reading. If you have time, your accounting dissertation would benefit if you left your first draft for a week or so before re-reading. This way, anything that you can’t understand in your accounting dissertation will be identified at this stage.

Overall, your accounting dissertation has to be conceptualized well in the initial stages. Your accounting dissertation has to be researched both thoroughly, and with appropriate use of relevant information. Finally, your accounting dissertation has to be written coherently and in an accessible fashion.