2003

The Accounting Hall of Fame Inducts Three New Members for 2003:       Philip W. Bell, Edgar O. Edwards and James J. Leisenring

Three distinguished accountants have been named as the 2003 Accounting Hall of Fame inductees: Philip W. Bell and Edgar O. Edwards, authors of a seminal book on business income measurement, and James J. Leisenring, who has played a key role in the development of financial reporting standards.

The Accounting Hall of Fame was established in 1950 at The Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business and has since honored 73 influential and respected accountants from academe, accounting practice, government, and business. The Hall of Fame's international board of electors selects the honorees.

Edgar O. Edwards

Edgar O. Edwards was born in Foxborough, Massachusetts in 1919 and earned an associate of arts degree from Green Mountain College in 1939. Following service in the Pacific with the U. S. Army during World War II, he earned a bachelor's degree from Washington and Jefferson College and masters and doctoral degrees in political economy from The Johns Hopkins University. Following nine years on the faculty of Princeton University, he was named Hargrove Professor of Economics at Rice University. In 1969, he was appointed by the Ford Foundation as Economic Advisor to its Asia and Pacific Program. He returned to Rice University in 1974 to join the Jones School of Administration where he remained until his retirement in 1983. In recent years, he has played important advisory roles for the governments of Kenya, Botswana, and Lebanon and continues to consult with countries on economic development and policy matters. He is author or co-author of over a dozen books and monographs and more than 20 articles in scholarly journals bridging economic development, planning, and accounting, including the classic text on business income, The Theory and Measurement of Business Income, published in 1961 with Philip Bell. Professor Edward resides in Poultney, Vermont, with his wife Jean; they have three children, Kathryn, Carolyn, and Douglas.

Philip W. Bell

Philip W. Bell was born in 1924 to Samuel D. Bell and Miriam Wilkes Bell of New York City. Following service as a pilot in the U. S. Air Force during World War II, he began his career as a correspondent for the New York Times. In addition to baccalaureate and doctoral degrees in economics from Princeton University, Bell holds a master's degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He served on many university faculties in the United States, including the University of California, Berkeley; Haverford College; Rice University; and Boston University, and has held numerous visiting professorships throughout the world. He has published over 30 articles and 12 books and monographs, including The Theory and Measurement of Business Income, published with Edgar Edwards. Much of his scholarly work seeks to bring accounting and economics closer together, an interest he applied in work with developing countries and consulting engagements with the U.S. Departments of Treasury and State and the U. S. Agency for International Development. Following his retirement from Boston University in 1992, he has continued to write, consult and accept visiting professorships. Professor Bell resides in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, with his wife Jean Wyeth Bell; he has four children, Susan, Geoffrey, Mary Ellen and James, and nine grandchildren.

James J. Leisenring

James J. Leisenring is a member of the International Accounting Standards Board, with liaison responsibility to the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) where he served from 1987 to 2000. During this period, he was the board's vice chairman and chairman of G4+1, the accounting standards group composed of representatives from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States and the International Accounting Standards Committee. Prior to being named to the board, he was FASB director of research and technical activities, a post he had held since 1982, and also chaired the board's Emerging Issues Task Force. Before joining the FASB, Leisenring was a partner in Bristol, Leisenring, Herkner & Co. of Battle Creek Michigan, now part of Plante & Moran. He has served as chair of the AICPA's Auditing Standards Board and as a faculty member at Western Michigan University. Leisenring holds degrees from Albion College and Western Michigan University.