1.    Rich Houston called the meeting to order at 8:00 am.

2.    Wendy Bailey moved and Tom Clausen seconded the motion that the October 2008 minutes that  CONTACT Jennifer Joe circulated prior to the meeting be approved.  The motion was met with unanimous approval.

3.    Treasurer's report – Laurie Burney provided updated financial information on the section.  Elizabeth Almer asked about the subscriptions revenue allocated to the sections for online publications. Theresa Libby will ask the AAA publications committee at its next meeting. 

4.    Publications report

a.    ABO Website - Charles Bailey was not present.  Rich Houston noted that the website will likely be phased out with the AAA Commons.  Until then, all information to be posted should be sent to Charles.

b.    Newsletter - Don Kent asked for information to be forwarded to him earlier for the newsletter. The variability of the dates of publication of the newsletter was noted.  After discussion, the publication dates are set as December 1 and May 1.  The deadline for submitting information for the Dec. 1 newsletter will be November 1.  This edition will focus on conference news, such as winning papers, as well as emerging scholar’s reminder.  The deadline for submitting information for the May 1 newsletter will be April 1, and will include a reminder about the deadline for conference submissions.

Behavioral Research in Accounting

Editor’s Report to the ABO Executive Committee

Submitted by Theresa Libby, Editor

AAA Annual Meeting, New York

Update on Journal Activities since the Mid-Year Meeting of October 2008:

·         Submissions continue to come in at about the same rate as last year. I expect to receive about 55 submissions by the end of December.

·         Due to changes in the publications process at the AAA office, the printing and distribution of all AAA journals have been somewhat delayed. Issue 2 of volume 21 (2009) should be out soon, if not out already. That will complete the last issue under Bryan Church’s editorship. My first issue will come out in 2010. At this point I have 6 papers ready to go for the first issue and should have about the same number for the second issue that comes out in the later part of 2010.

·         The AAA Publications Committee requires me to prepare an annual report including several journal statistics each year. Highlights for the period July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009 (their required reporting period) include the following:

o   A total of 65 papers were evaluated during that period

o   Of these, 28 were rejected, 24 were invited to revise and resubmit and 13 were accepted. Of the 13 acceptances, 7 came out in Volume 21 (2009) issue 2 and the remaining 6 will come out in Volume 22 (2010).

·         I have recruited Mark Dirsmith and Mark Covelski as guest editors of a special issue (or special section) of BRIA to attract papers using sociological theory and qualitative methods. Watch for the call early this fall. The submission deadline will be in the early part of 2010.

·         Attached you will find a proposal for a BRIA Best Paper Award. The idea for this award comes directly from the ABO Publications Committee.

The AAA publications committee approached Theresa about having a best paper journal award – (best paper in prior three years).  No cash payment would be required.  A discussion followed about whether we wanted a cash award, but it was decided that the award was about the recognition, not the money.  Wendy Bailey made a motion that we institute a Best Paper Journal Award with BRIA, with a second from Damon Fleming.  The motion was unanimously supported.

d.    Publications committee - Mike Shields was not present.  Rich Houston reported that Mike has decided to step down.  Rich also noted that Mike has done a great job in this role.

e.    AAA Commons - Tom Clausen reported on information from the AAA Commons meeting for liaisons.  Questions were raised about the future of the old section website and how individuals who are not registered can access section information within AAA Commons.  Any additional questions about the Commons should be sent to Tom.

5.    2009 ABO Research Conference

a.    Overall report - Frank Hodge was not present.  Rich reported for Frank that submissions are flat from last year.  For the first time, we will be offering a monetary award for the best paper - $500 to be split among paper authors.

b.    Doctoral Consortium - Jane Kennedy was not present.  Rich reported that the consortium, which is usually on Thursday, will be held Friday morning this year because rooms were not available.  Deloitte is providing $6,000 of funding for the consortium. It was decided that we should not ask for an increase in funding this year due to the economy.

Kim Sawers reported that there were 36 applicants for the consortium this year (50 attended last year), so the 30 rooms set aside for doctoral students was filled.

6.    2010 ABO Research Conference

1. Site selection - Kim Sawers reported that the 2010 ABO meeting will be held in Denver at the Westin Tabor Center.

7.    Annual Meeting Reports

1. 2009 Annual Meeting Report

Damon Fleming provided a summary of the 2009 ABO submissions for the annual meeting. A total of 99 papers were submitted to the section with 10 reassigned to other sections based on methodology and/or supporting theory being deemed inappropriate for the ABO.  The ABO had a total of 16 sessions and 64 papers presented during the meeting.

8.    ABO Awards Committee - Jackie Hammersley reported that this year the ABO will give two awards, the Outstanding Dissertation Award and the Notable Contributions award. She chaired the dissertation award committee and was aided by committee members Shana Clor-Proell at Wisconsin and Michael Williamson at Texas. The committee received five submissions and will present the award to Nicholas Seybert at Texas.  Nick’s dissertation was chaired by Bob Libby at Cornell. 

The Notable Contributions Award Committee was chaired by Jordan Lowe at Arizona State, along with committee members Dennis Bline (Bryant), Bill Dilla (Iowa State), Chirstine Earley (Providence College), and Anne Magro (George Mason). The committee received seven nominations and the award will be presented to Ken Trotman at University of New South Wales.

9.    Nominations for Nominating Committee – We need two more nominations from the Executive Committee, which are then approved by members.

10.  Other business?

·         Discussion of “Organizations” portion of section title—update.

·         Related discussion of what constitutes appropriate submissions to conferences (what is “behavioral”).

Discussion of what is an appropriate submission for our section.  It was suggested that we better clarify our purpose to help guide submissions. 

·         Define emerging scholars.

The emerging scholars sessions were discussed.  Damon Fleming noted that it is difficult to find an appropriate mentor to discuss these papers.  Rich Houston also mentioned that we need to clarify the definition of an emerging scholar, i.e., sole-authored paper, paper with senior researcher.  With the award for an emerging scholar, we need to decide if it is fair to have a sole-authored paper compete against a paper with a senior author.

11. Elizabeth Almer made a motion for the meeting to adjourn. The meeting ended at 8:30.