Minutes of the 1994 ABO Annual Business Meeting

New York City
August 11, 1994

The meeting was called to order at 10:15 a.m. The following officers, editors, committee chairs, and coordinators were present: Don Finn, Lawrence Ponemon, Norman B. Macintosh, Gary J. Mann, Jacob G. Birnberg, Philip Siegel, Seleshi Sisaye, Dennis Bline, Robin Roberts, John Wendell, Ben Wier, Gene Johnson. In addition, Gail Wright, 1994 ABO Research Conference Director, and approximately 20 other section members were present. ABO section officer, editor, committee chair, and coordinator list attached.

Don Finn, outgoing section chair, opened the meeting by calling on Jake Birnberg.

Jake Birnberg, BRIA editor, discussed the number of manuscript submissions to the journal and mentioned actions he planned to take to increase the submission rate. Six papers presented at the recent ABO research conference will be published in BRIA. BRIA report is attached.

Phil Siegel, newsletter editor, discussed the status of the newsletter.

Dennis Bline, membership coordinator, reported that membership was down by about 200 from last year. He also distributed the membership directory. In membership-related discussion, it was suggested that AAA include an E-mail address line on membership forms so that the address would be available to all sections and section members. Also, Larry Ponemon suggested that because of the excellent work being done by Australian members, a future ABO conference should perhaps be held there.

Phil Siegel, substituting for Jerry Strawer, working paper series editor, stated that doctoral-granting schools and other schools with an interest were being targeted for inclusion in the series program.

Don Finn commended Paul Munter for his work on the 1994 AAA Program Committee.

Alan Lord, the section representative on the 1995 AAA Program Committee, presented information regarding processing of papers for the meeting. All papers will go through the various AAA section coordinators. Also, non-attendees at future AAA meetings will be able to communicate with paper presentors by means of teleconferencing (Internet). Information on this procedure will be distributed by AAA.

The following regional coordinators made brief reports: Dennis Bline, Robin Roberts, John Wendell, Ben Wier, Gene Johnson, Norm Macintosh (Foreign Liaison Coordinator), Alan Dunk.

Seleshi Sisaye presented the Outstanding Dissertation Award for 1993 to Keith Duncan, Bond University, Australia. Dissertation chair was Ray McNamara. Also, a plaque in recognition of honorable mention for the award was presented to Jean-Francois Manzoni.

Gail Wright, 1994 ABO Research Conference Director, reported that the conference was a great success. Also, a special edition of BRIA containing some conference papers will be published early in 1995.

Norm Macintosh presented the treasury report, which was approved (attached). The minutes of the August 9, 1993 San Francisco meeting, and the October 16, 1993, San Antonio executive meeting were presented and approved.

Norm Macintosh also discussed the Third Management Control Systems Symposium to be held in London on July 3-5, 1995 (flyer attached). A recommendation was made to consider allowing doctoral students to attend the symposium.

Don Finn stated that the 1995 ABO Research Conference will be held immediately prior to the Orlando AAA meeting. Papers are to be submitted to Don Finn by January 15, 1995. The topic will be ethics. Later, Larry Ponemon emphasized that the ethics topic was defined very broadly. Also, Larry would like to see all accepted papers for the 1995 meeting appear in a special edition of BRIA.

Don Finn made his farewell remarks as ABO section chair. Larry Ponemon presented a plaque to Don in recognition for his service as chair.

Vicki Arnold discussed the objective and intended uses of an upcoming AAA research monograph which she and others will author. The purpose of the monograph is to present guidelines for behavioral accounting research for use by Ph.D. students.

The incoming section chair, Larry Ponemon, expressed his concern over the decline in section membership, mentioning that there was a similar decline in overall AAA membership and that most sections were experiencing a decline. He will attempt to schedule the 1995 section business meeting at a different time than the meetings of other sections so that members can attend the ABO meeting without missing others.

Larry stated that the mid-year section meeting will be held in New Orleans in late October or early November, 1994. He also mentioned that he will attempt to provide section representation at the next doctoral consortium.

Gail Wright announced the creation of a FASB Liaison Committee between the FASB and ABO section. The committee will discuss matters related to behavioral factors of financial pronouncements.

The meeting adjourned at 11:55 a.m.