Newsletter

Dear Public Interest Section Members:

As I near the completion of my first year of a two year term as the Chair of the Public Interest Section, I thank all those members, including our great set of officers, who made this a really successful year for the PIS. I thought I would summarize some of the PIS activities that happened over the past year.

Our first major project was to redo the PIS Bylaws. We needed to make some changes to keep up with our evolving needs. For instance, we now include the wonder of technology in the voting process by using AAA e-mail accounts that gives every member an opportunity to vote. Please note the time frame for the voting process as it will vary per item. (The nomination process for nominating committees that is currently in progress is limited to 2 weeks and will close out August 15.) Other important changes include additional elected officer positions for teaching and for international membership. Currently, the elected officers of the Section shall consist of the Chair, Chair-elect, Vice-Chair/Director of Research, Vice-Chair/Director of Education, Vice-Chair/Director of International Membership and Secretary-Treasurer. The new Bylaws passed almost unanimously with 40 for acceptance and 1 against acceptance. A copy of the bylaws can be found on our newly re-done website.

In my opinion the most fun activity this year was the very professional and inspiring 2nd Annual PIS Mid-Year Meeting held in beautiful Charleston, S.C. The hotel accommodations were excellent, and I think everyone enjoyed the low country cuisine of the local restaurants. We all gave Charlie Cullinan, the program chair, a great big thank you for doing such a fantastic job. He had discussants for every paper and lined up an excellent presentation by Lynn Turner for our keynote speaker. As with all events there were some tense times like when the hotel told me and Charlie they did not have a room for Lynn. Just as I was about to vacate mine for him (not really), the hotel solved the problem. Then we received an e-mail from Lynn saying that Colorado was having a blizzard, and he was not sure he would make it. Lynn practically flew in and out of Charleston within a 24 hour period to make our meeting. What a guy!! And to boot, he mesmerized a feisty audience of PIS members with a discussion of the report of the Treasury Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession – ACAP, of which he was a member. Public Interest people love to discuss the accounting/auditing profession, and Lynn was right there with them. If you missed this meeting, be sure to come to the 3rd Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. Pat Kelly and Christine Earley are the co- chairs and I know they are planning another excellent professional (and fun) meeting. Past and future meeting information can be viewed on our newly updated website.

I am looking forward to the 14th Annual Symposium on Ethics Research in Accounting that precedes the AAA Annual meeting in NY. John Thornton, the current VP of Research and Education for the PIS, was also the Chair of the Professionalism and Ethics Committee and the program chair for the symposium. Please look at the program that is available on our webpage to see the papers, discussants and participants. The PIS has always been very involved with this symposium and now receives its well deserved place as Co-Sponsor of this event with the P& E Committee. As this is the PIS’s main CPE event for the annual meeting, I encourage all members to participate in this symposium at least once in your career, if not every year. This year the key note address will be given by Shyam Sunder on the topic of “True and Fair as the Moral Compass for Financial Reporting” during the Accounting Exemplar Luncheon. If possible, we will post his remarks on our website after the meeting.

The Accounting Exemplar Luncheon is part of the Ethics Symposium and is always a very special time when the PIS recognizes those who have made notable contributions to professionalism and ethics. This year two people will be receive the award. Mary Beth Armstrong, an accounting educator who was one of the people instrumental in starting the Ethics Symposium, and an accounting practitioner, David Walker, who will also be the key note speaker for the AAA Meeting at Monday lunch. The Accounting Exemplar Committee is chaired by Patrick Kelly, who did a wonderful job of balancing the committee members’ very busy schedules. The committee had a tough time choosing between all the deserving nominees. Please note that once someone is nominated, they will be considered in the following year if they did not receive the award in the year of their nomination. I believe the committee has always followed this practice. The exemplars, both current and past, the committee members and the nominating process are listed on the PIS website.

The 2009 annual meeting PIS program was prepared and managed by co-coordinators Dawn Massey and Joan VanHise. They have developed a very interesting set of sessions. I will recognize both of them at the PIS business meeting on Monday, so please join me in thanking both for their excellent job.

We now have an updated website thanks to Carol Hartley. What a relief!! Check it out at http://aaahq.org/PublicInterest/Index.htm . In the next year we plan to revive our Newsletter, so be on the lookout for that.

In closing I invite all of you to attend the annual PIS business meeting on Monday, August 3, from 4-5:30 pm. Please refer to the meeting program for the room number. We will post the minutes on the website.

I hope to see you all in New York, New York !

Best regards,

Pamela Roush, Chair of the Public Interest Section