Much of the terminology and essential conceptual frameworks needed to understand important financial documents come from years of prolonged academic study. Executive finance programs often seek to condense this information, providing the skills and understanding necessary to process and react to technical reports.

The PhD is a doctoral degree, specifically called a "doctor of philosophy" degree. This is misleading because PhD holders are not necessarily philosophers (unless they earned their degree in philosophy!). That said, PhD recipients are able to engage in thought experiments, reason about problems, and solve problems in sophisticated ways.