Minutes of 1998 ABO Annual Meeting

New Orleans
August 17, 1998

The business meeting was called to order by Dennis Bline, Chair.

Jake Birnberg read minutes from the 1997 business meting prepared by Seleshi Sisaye.  Concerns were raised regarding the section entitled "Other conferences", relating to the second paragraph of that section.  A motion was made and seconded to correct the minutes.  The amendment was as follows:

Delete the following wording "Sisaye indicated that he provided a tentative guideline that clearly explained that there are no future BRIA supplemental issues that will come out from ABO Research Conferences.  There will be a special section for Conference Papers in the regular issue of BRIA."

The substitute wording should say "No further supplemental issues of BRIA will be published from the conference unless there is outside funding for the cost of the issue, and the contents are approved by the editor of BRIA."

The amendment passed unanimously.  A motion was then made and seconded to accept the minutes as amended; the motion passed unanimously.

Vicky Arnold then presented the treasurer's report showing final FY 97 (both by month and by activity) and FY 98 to date.  Arnold noted that the section had experienced financial difficulty over the past year and that AAA had appointed three trustees to oversee the operations of the section through the end of FY 99.  Those trustees are Andy Bailey, Mary Stone, and Jan Williams.  Arnold noted that the officers and trustees had decided to implement several austerity measures.  Those measures include increasing the footprint and decreasing font size of the journal, publishing the newsletter in an electronic form only, discontinuing monetary payment for the dissertation award, and eliminating payment of meals and breaks at the mid-year business meeting.  A motion was made and seconded to accept the report.  The motion passed unanimously.

Bline then presented the report of the By-laws Committee on behalf of Sue Haka.  The committee is working on amendments to the existing bylaws and will present those amendments at the 1999 mid-year business meeting.

Don Finn, Editor of BRIA, reported on the current status of the journal.  Volume 11 is complete and at AAA.

Jake Birnberg presented a report from the BRIA Editor Selection Committee.  He explained the process that had been used and the Sue Haka had been recommended as the new editor of BRIA.  A motion was made and seconded to accept the recommendation of the committee.  The motion passed unanimously.

Dennis Hanno provided an update on the 1998 ABO Research Conference.  He noted that the conference had been moved to the fall and will be held in conjunction with the mid-year business meeting.  He also noted that 66 papers were submitted for the conference and 27 were accepted.  Final decision on the conference papers that will be published will be made by Don Finn, editor of BRIA, and Jim Hutton, editor of Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research.

A report on the 1999 ABO Research Conference was presented.  Joan Luft and Chee Chow will be hosting the conference on October 8 and 9, 1999, on the West Coast, hopefully in the Los Angeles area.  They presented a budget for the conference and stated that conference materials will be handled electronically.

John Rigsby reported that Joe Fisher would be taking over a Editor of the ABO Reporter.

Jane Kennedy presented the Outstanding Dissertation Award to Linda Thorne of York University.  The title of her dissertation is "The Influence of Social Interaction on Auditors' Moral Reasoning".

Dennis Bline reported on AAA activities of which section members should be aware.  Those activities include; (1) extent of monetary support for region/section activity by AAA national, (2) faculty development programs, and (3) organizational structure at AAA national.

Bline also announced the results of the election of officers.  The 1998-99 officers are as follows:

Chair:  Seleshi Sisaye
Chair-elect:  Tim Fogarty
Secretary/Treasurer:  Jane Kennedy
Vice Chair Regions:  Laurie Plant

Jake Birnberg accepted on behalf of Sisaye.

Vicky Arnold then presented a plaque to Dennis Bline to thank him for the outstanding hob as 1997-08 chair.

A motion was made and seconded to adjourn.  The motion passed unanimously.

Respectfully submitted,
Vicky Arnold
1997-98 Secretary/Treasurer