The Annual Business Meeting of the Public Interest Section (PIAS) of the American Accounting Association was held on Monday, August 17 at the New Orleans Hilton Riverside Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana. The meeting began at 10:40 a.m.

Reports to Members

Mary Beth Armstrong, Secretary/Treasurer, distributed copies of the Minutes of the Annual Meeting held August 18, 1997. It was moved, seconded and approved unanimously that the Minutes be accepted without amendments. Mary Beth Armstrong also distributed copies of the Treasurer’s report, which was accepted unanimously.

Vaughan Radcliffe, Membership Chair, reported that membership of the Section is in the low 300s. Vaughan passed out flyers that solicit membership to the Section. As part of an ongoing process to expand membership, Vaughan has gathered a list of names from various sources and emailed those on the list an invitation to join the Section.

Tim Fogarty, outgoing Chairperson, indicated that the Section would have a new webmaster, Gary Schneider. Tim asked for additional involvement by members in producing a higher-quality web site for the Section.

Larry Kalbers, National Meeting Program Coordinator, reported that the Section was given four sessions for paper presentations at the 1998 Annual Meeting. This number was up from previous years. The number of section sessions is based on the relationship between section submissions and total submissions to the Annual Meeting. Tim Fogarty encouraged members to submit papers to the 1999 Annual Meeting.

Pamela Roush, Regional Meetings Coordinator, asked for more programming at the local levels, such as panels at regional meetings.

Leslie Oakes, CPE Coordinator, was not present at the meeting. In her place, Tim Fogarty reported that there was not sufficient registration for the CPE offering this year for it to take place. Last year’s session in Dallas was very successful. CPE programs put on by sections generate revenue for the section.

Recognition of Past Chairpersons
The following past chairpersons were recognized and given, at their choice, either a plaque or a certificate: Wayne Bremser, Mary Doucet, Jere Francis, Barbara Merino, Joanne Rockness and Paul Williams.

Accounting Exemplar Award
Mary Doucet reported that no exemplar award would be given this year. She indicated the need for a formal set of criteria for the award. The following Section members were selected to choose an exemplar or exemplars for next year: Carol Venable, Tim Louwers and Paul Williams.

Lee Parker, incoming Chairperson, asked that someone be designated to go to a council meeting. The chairperson elect has done it in the past, but with the new two-year term for chairpersons this in no longer possible. The possibility of the Vice President and Director of Research to attend the council meeting was raised. It was decided that it is the prerogative to the Chairperson to assign such a person.

Nominating Committee
The members present nominated, seconded and approved the following members to form a nominating committee: Mary Beth Armstrong, Jesse Dillard, Tim Fogarty and Paul Williams.

Focus for the Next Two Years
It was decided through discussion that the primary focus for the next two years might be creating a new refereed, online journal for the section. Some of the new things that might be accomplished by this journal would be to encourage doctoral student research; have a professional orientation; provide for critical reinterpretations of mainstream work; and address educational issues from a different perspective. Jesse Dillard will be the point person for exploring the possibility of such a new journal. After discussion, the members present unanimously instructed Jesse Dillard to move forward with a report in the Spring issue of the Section newsletter for approval at the 1999 Annual Meeting.

Critical Perspectives on Accounting Conference
A discussion took place about the CPA Conference in New York next spring. There was some concern about the lack of accountability for the money given to the Conference by the Section in the past. Members present asked that $3,000 should be provided for support again this year, but that more accountability for the funds is necessary. Further, it was asked that Vaughan Radcliffe explore the possibility of including a way for conference attendees to easily select membership in the Public Interest Section if they are members of the American Accounting Association at no additional cost.

Respectfully submitted,
Larry Kalbers
Secretary/Treasurer

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