Recap: 2006 ABO Research Conference

In October, over 100 participants gathered for the 2006 ABO Research Conference at the historic Multnomah Hotel in downtown Portland, Oregon. In addition to paper sessions addressing issues in tax, auditing, managerial and financial accounting, the conference also featured two Emerging Scholar sessions that highlighted the research of new faculty and doctoral students. At the business meeting and lunch on Friday, section President Tim Louwers (James Madison University) presented the ABO Outstanding Dissertation Award to Josh Herbold (University of Montana) and his dissertation chair, Mark Peecher (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).

On Saturday morning, the room was packed for a plenary session addressing whether AAA journals represent the diversity of research done by AAA members. Panelists were AAA VP-Research Arnie Wright (Boston College), AAA Past-President Judy Rayburn (University of Minnesota), Dan Stone (University of Kentucky), and Jesse Dillard (Portland State University). The panelists sparked a lively discussion among the crowd that continued throughout the day. At Saturday’s lunch, Arnie Wright (Boston College) presented the ABO Lifetime Contribution Award to Ted Mock (University of Southern California).

The conference, organized by Anne Magro (University of Texas) and Jim Bierstaker (Villanova University) was a great success due to the number of high quality submissions, the efforts of the presenters and discussants, and the highly engaged audiences.