Waller Recognized for Lifetime Contributions

Professor William "Bill" Waller (University of Arizona) was awarded the Notable Lifetime Contribution Award in Behavioral Accounting Literature in recognition of his extensive contributions to behavioral accounting research. The selection committee, chaired by Selishi Sisaye (Duquesne University), included former Notable Lifetime Contribution Award winners Bob Ashton (Duke University), Jake Birnberg (University of Pittsburgh), Bob Libby (Cornell University), and Ken Merchant (University of Southern California). Professor Waller has published over two dozen articles in high quality accounting journals, including numerous acceptances in The Accounting Review (six times), the Journal of Accounting Research (three times), Accounting, Organizations and Society (six times), Contemporary Accounting Research (twice), and Organization Behavior and Human Decision Processes (three times).

In accepting the award, he suggested in his usual modest way that he should also be recognized for having the greatest number of rejections at major accounting journals. Noting that "we are all products of human interaction," he credited a number of current and former colleagues at the University of Arizona (Dan Dhaliwal, Bill Felix, Terry Connolly, Amnon Rapaport, Vernon Smith), Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Gary Biddle), and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore (Tan Hun-Tong), as well as guidance from mentors in his doctoral program at the University of Washington (Chee Chow, Jim Jiambalvo, Lee Beach, Terry Mitchell) and his undergraduate program at the University of Illinois (Ken Perry: "Don't Fight the Problem!"), for his success. He noted that a "combination of accounting fundamentals and rejection of orthodox economic assumptions about human behavior set me on the path to emphasize behavioral accounting above all else."