<p>Given your academic credentials, a GMAT score of >700 is probably essential. GMAT scores are surprisingly important in some Business PhD program admissions decisions.</p>
<p>You are lucky that Accounting is one field experiencing a significant shortage of PhD graduates and that there is perhaps some bias in favor of the relatively rare domestic applicants to Accounting PhD programs. So while your academic background might be a show-stopper in Econ or Finance, it may not disqualify you for Accounting.</p>
<p>If you do get >700 on the GMAT and just apply widely with what you have now and whatever LOR you can get, you may well get in somewhere. If you do get in and you're sufficiently committed to suffering through the process, you'll most likely earn your degree. Given the market, you'll almost certainly get a TT job somewhere. However, brand name means a lot in academics and it's largely a caste system in which you move across or down. So starting as close as you can to the top is important. It would be worth it to invest a bit up front to get the best possible start that you can by getting into the best possible program.</p>
<p>You do know that your LOR should be from academics rather than practitioners, right? Did you have sufficient interaction with academically qualified instructors at your non-certified degree granting institutions to get the required LOR?</p>
<p>The reason for this is that academics is sufficiently different from practice, especially in Accounting, that letters stating that X is a smart guy and a hard worker, just won't help that much. The writers of your LOR must understand enough about academics to make the case as to why you'd be well suited to a PhD program and to the academy after that.</p>
<p>From your credentials, it sounds as though you are not particularly old for a Business PhD student. You might be better off in the long run to take some key foundational courses at a traditional accredited institution to get a feel for what you're in for and to make some contacts to improve your LOR.</p>
<p>I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that you have not had: linear algebra, multivariate differential and integral calculus, calculus-based intermediate microecon, or applied econometrics/advanced business statistics. People get into Accounting PhD programs without these all the time, but having them in advance and fresh in your memory is a huge advantage. You could spend a year or two picking these up at a traditional accredited institution and getting to know the Profs. at the same time. You can usually enroll as a non-degree student. Go to office hours for every course with reasonable frequency and let the Profs know why you're there and taking their classes. Also, be prepared to work harder than you've ever worked before with the goal of being a top student in most every class. If this turns out to be a fiasco, it's probably better to find out now than after you've quit your job and moved across the country to start a PhD program.</p>
<p>Of course, once you're in, you needn't specialize in Econ-based research, but you'll need to get through at least the stuff above before focusing on some other base theory.</p>
<p>If you'd like to discuss this in detail, PM me. I don't login here often but I can check in this week/weekend.</p>