I am excited to finally share that yesterday I officially graduated with my PhD!
When I started in 2023, I don’t think I fully understood what would be required. There were long nights, early mornings, almost every weekend spent researching, writing, data crunching, deadlines, and many moments where I had to keep going even when I was tired, overwhelmed, or unsure of myself.
Now that graduation is behind me, I want to reflect on what this accomplishment really means and thank the people who helped me get here.
I am incredibly grateful to my dissertation chair, Dr. Kohlbeck, and my amazing committee members, Dr. Boudreaux and Dr. Escaleras. Thank you for your guidance throughout the dissertation process. The faculty and staff in FAU’s College of Business, the Executive Ed team, and the Graduate College were also amazing. I can’t say enough about the encouragement, responsiveness, and white-glove care our cohort received from day one through the final stretch. Go Owls! 🦉
To my parents and my partner, John, you are my rock, and I love you so much! You supported me, encouraged me, wiped my tears, and cheered me on every step of the way. You helped me brainstorm research ideas, read my boring papers, and listened to my presentation practice sessions.
To my friends who took my silly surveys, listened to me say “I can’t, I have homework” approximately 1,000 times, and still kept inviting me to things, thank you. Your support mattered more than you know.
I am especially grateful to the AFSG team. Your encouragement, patience, and support helped make this possible. Running a business while completing a PhD was not easy, and I literally could not have done it without you. You picked up the pieces when I couldn’t be there, and still do. We are a true team, and you all believed in me and continued showing up with dedication and care. Thank you!
One of the final steps in earning this degree was successfully defending my doctoral dissertation last month. The title is: “Firms in the Flood: Is FEMA Failing Small Businesses?” Although most of my coursework and research focused on accounting and tax, my dissertation topic, at its core, was about small businesses, the communities they serve, and the challenges they face when unexpected disruptions occur, specifically natural disasters. You’re welcome to read it once it is available online in two to three weeks.
My dissertation examined small business outcomes across communities after major disaster events. I looked at how small business income changed following disasters and whether two factors, federal disaster mitigation investment and community social resilience, were associated with better outcomes for small businesses.
The work brought together data from IRS small business income tax filings, FEMA grant information, SBA small business disaster loss data, and measures of a community’s social resilience. In plain English, I wanted to better understand whether public investment or a community’s interconnectedness actually helped small business recovery after disasters.
The topic was meaningful to me not only from a research perspective, but also as a business owner and accounting professional. I work with entrepreneurs every day. I see the decisions, risks, responsibilities, and sacrifices that come with building and sustaining a business.
That is also why this work matters beyond graduation. Research is not just something that belongs in an academic journal. It can help business owners, tax professionals, and organizations make better decisions when the questions are complex, the stakes are high, and the answer is not obvious.
At AFSG, I bring this research perspective into the work we already do with clients. Whether we are helping a tax client evaluate planning opportunities, assisting a business owner with financial decisions, or working on corporate consulting projects, the goal is the same: use better information to make better decisions.
Businesses have years of financial, operational, payroll, sales, and customer data sitting in systems they already use. We are especially interested in helping businesses use their own data more effectively. The opportunity is to turn that information into practical insight, not just reports for the sake of reports, but evidence-based decisions that help owners understand what is working, what is changing, and where they may need to adjust.
I am proud of my work and this accomplishment, but the next chapter is exciting too.
First, I am very much looking forward to having my weekends back. I couldn’t remember what people do on Saturdays when they are not formatting citations, cleaning datasets, or questioning every life decision that led them to do a dissertation.
Along the way, I built relationships I am deeply grateful for, and I look forward to continuing academic opportunities and research in areas connected to accounting, tax, entrepreneurship, public policy, and small business resilience.
Tax work is increasingly connected to business advisory, planning, technology, and data informed decision making. I am excited to keep contributing to those conversations, and upcoming opportunities to share this perspective with other tax professionals and NATP members are especially meaningful to me.
Earning this degree also reminded me that not everyone will understand your goals, your timing, or your ambitions — and that is okay.
Keep going anyway.
After three and a half years, I am grateful, relieved, proud, and excited to finally say:
I did it! PhD complete. 🎓
Sincerely,
Dr. Lauryn Charles
