In May 2009, Kwadwo “Kojo” Asare made history as the first recipient of a doctoral degree from Bentley University. In addition to the PhD in Accountancy, he holds an MS in Computer Information Systems (earned in 1994, also from Bentley), an MBA from Cornell University, and a BS in Accounting from St. Francis College. The native of Ghana, West Africa, is also a CPA with years of business experience. This fall he took up duties as an assistant professor of accountancy at Bryant University.

Q: What was your motivation to earn a doctorate?

A combination of a love of learning and a desire to help other people learn. Professionally, I had worked at GE Capital, Coopers & Lybrand, Intel, and Merck. I always tried to seek assignments that would stimulate me intellectually. I came to realize that even in my most challenging corporate proj- ects, I was using only a fraction of what I knew. I thought academia would offer a greater challenge.

Q: When did you find that you liked to teach?

In studying for my CPA. Once I came to understand a concept, I discovered I could make others understand it as well. When I was getting my MBA, I found myself teaching accounting to other students. They appreciated the way I was able to make things clear.

Q: How did you come to attend college in the United States?

It’s somewhat of a family tradition. My grandfather went to Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and earned a law degree from Fordham Law School in New York. My father also went to Lincoln as an undergraduate and has a graduate degree in economics. I wanted to follow in their footsteps, so I came here to go to college. Both my father and grandfather went back to Ghana, however. I’ve been here for 18 years, but I’m keeping my options open.

Q: What drew you to the doctoral program at Bentley?

I was at first apprehensive about entering a newly established program. But having a master’s from Bentley, I was always so impressed with the school’s focus on serving the student — much more so than any other school I’ve attended. Put that together with the talent in the Accountancy Department — Jim Hunton, Ali Abdolmohammadi, Jean Bedard . . . some of the top names in accountancy and experts in behavioral research — and it wasn’t a hard sell.

I also like the way Bentley has built on its strengths. With the proliferation of MBA programs, it’s difficult to distinguish among them. What specific skill set do those graduates have? Bentley is smart to focus on specialized business programs because it’s clear what skills graduates have. The PhD program is a natural extension of that specialized education.

Q: What was your thesis topic?

It was a series of papers on the influence of corporate governance on analysts’ forecasts. One was based on an experiment that I designed, where analysts in the U.S. and the U.K. were asked to estimate a firm’s earnings forecast range for different quality levels of corporate governance. As expected, analysts’ level of uncertainty increased when corporate governance was believed to be below average, and their uncertainty declined when quality of governance was thought to be above average.

But it was striking that U.K. analysts’ forecast range increased to a much greater extent than that of U.S. analysts, when corporate governance quality is below average. U.K. analysts presume the quality of corporate governance to be good, and so are more surprised to find otherwise. U.S. analysts presume the quality of corporate governance to be bad, and so are more surprised when they learn that it is good. A potential implication is that non-U.S. investors in the U.S. capital market may be significantly influenced by their local regulatory regime and business culture when compared to U.S. investors.

Q: How does it feel to be the university’s first PhD graduate?

I didn’t plan it that way, but it’s pretty special. I guess this is my 15 minutes of fame.