The Accounting Hall of Fame

The Accounting Hall of Fame was established at The Ohio State University in 1950 for the purpose of honoring accountants who have made or are making significant contributions to the advancement of accounting since the beginning of the twentieth century. Through 2011, 93 leading accountants from the United States and other countries have been elected to the Hall of Fame.

While selection to the Hall of Fame is intended to honor the people so chosen, it is also intended to be a recognition of distinguished service contributions to the progress of accounting in any of its various fields. Evidence of such service includes contributions to accounting research and literature, significant service to professional accounting organizations, wide recognition as an authority in some field of accounting, advancement of accounting education, and public service. A member must have reached a position of eminence from which the nature of his or her contributions may be judged.

Elections to the Hall of Fame are made by a Board of Nominations consisting of up to 50 eminent accountants from each of the following three groups: public accountants, educators, and industrial and governmental accountants. Each board member serves a fixed term. Starting in 1973, board membership became international. In addition to members from the United States, the present board includes members from the following countries: Australia, Canada, England, Japan, and Mexico.

Nomination and election to the Accounting Hall of Fame by the board are made annually by mail in two steps. Individual members of the board are asked to nominate a living or deceased accountant for possible election to the Hall of Fame. From these preliminary nominations, a ballot is prepared containing the names, alphabetically listed, of not more than four candidates who have been nominated most frequently. The members of the Board of Nominations then cast their votes for one of the four nominees. The candidate on the ballot receiving the most votes is elected to the Hall. In the event that several candidates receive the same number of votes, more than one candidate may be elected.

Evidence of election to the Accounting Hall of Fame takes three forms. A certificate issued under the seal of The Ohio State University and signed by the President of the University and a representative of the Board of Nominations is presented to each person elected (or to the person's representative when the person elected is deceased). The names of the elected persons are inscribed on a scroll, and a photographic portrait of each person elected together with the citation attesting to the election are permanently displayed in the corridors of the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University. In 1995, we proudly added this presentation on the World Wide Web to honor the distinguished members of the Accounting Hall of Fame. The presentation of the certificate usually takes place at the annual meeting of the American Accounting Association. Living members of The Ohio State University faculty are not eligible for election to the Accounting Hall of Fame.

Publications of The Accounting Hall of Fame include the Thomas J. Burns Series in Accounting History, which is distributed by the Department of Accounting and Management Information Systems, Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University Press, 2100 Neil Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43210. This series of books presents the collected works of selected Hall of Fame members.