Message from the Chair

Richard Baker

There has probably never been a better time for thinking and talking about accounting's role in relation to the public interest than during the last several years. This is the reason that I am very pleased to have been given the opportunity to serve as the Chair of the Public Interest Section of the American Accounting Association. No matter what your definition of the "public interest," I would like to encourage you to participate actively, first, in the Section's business activities, and second, with respect to the on-going discussions and investigations surrounding the relationships between the broad field of accounting and accounting's role in serving the public interest.

One of our first matters of business for the year 2004–2005 is to elect officers. Many of you attended the Section's Business Meeting at the AAA Annual Meeting in Orlando and you know that we held nominations for the open positions for officers of the Section. Our by-laws require that we announce the nominations 60 days in advance of an election, therefore, based on the recent announcement regarding this forthcoming election, we plan to hold an online ballot beginning November 1st (just in time for another election) and ending November 15th. An email announcement was issued to all members of the section on August 18, 2005, specifying the names of the nominees and dates of the online election. When you receive the email message regarding the online ballot, on November 1st, please respond as soon as possible after that date, indicating your preferences for the Section officers.

Sarah Stanwick, Editor of In the Public Interest, our Section Newsletter, has also included an announcement about the online election in another part of this issue. Since you will probably not be reading this newsletter until early September, the email announcement about the election from the AAA Headquarters began the 60 days notice period before the election.

During the forthcoming year, I would like concentrate on the following items:

1. Re-instating the Accounting Exemplar Award, which was not awarded this year due to a lack of nominees.
2. Updating the Section's Web site.
3. Increasing communication between officers, editors, coordinators and members of the Section.
4. Increasing membership.
5. Increasing visibility for the Section Journal, Accounting and the Public Interest.

I would appreciate your letting me know if you have any other suggestions or ideas, especially with regard to your own view of what constitutes accounting's role in the public interest. Please send me an email at: rbaker@umassd.edu.

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