Auditing Section
American Accounting Association
Auditing Section

Minutes of the Executive Committee
and Annual Business Meeting

January 14-15, 1999

Executive Committee Meeting
January 14, 1999

MEETING LOCATION: Atlanta, Georgia

IN ATTENDANCE: Executive Committee Members: Tim Bell, Barry Cushing, Karen Pincus, Joe Carcello, Jack Krogstad, Jerry Sullivan, Jean C. Bedard. Guests: Gary Braun (Editor of The Auditor's Report), Bill Dilla (Chair, CPE Committee), Faye Borthick (Chair, Communications Committee), Stan Biggs (Chair, Midyear Meeting Committee)

The meeting was called to order at 8:00 AM by Tim Bell, President.

Pincus
Information/Action

Karen Pincus, President-Elect, reported on the progress of appointments to Section committees and offices for 1999. She reported that she is considering forming a task force composed of members from smaller schools in order to advise on how the Section can best serve those members. She will consult with the winner of the election for President-Elect on this possibility.

Karen reported that Gary Braun, the Editor of the newsletter, had agreed on the suggested change to a two-year term discussed at the New Orleans meeting. This change involves having an Associate Editor appointed each year by the President-Elect, who will then take over the editorship in the following year. Jean Bedard moved, and Barry Cushing seconded, that the Section adopt this policy going forward. The motion passed unanimously.

The Committee discussed the general issue of the advisability of three-year appointments, given the possibility of burnout in the third year. Karen requested that the Executive Committee put this issue on its agenda for the next meeting.

Karen also brought forward the concern that coordination is lacking between the Chairs and Vice Chairs of some regions. We may run a program for new regional Auditing Section chairs, possibly run by the Annual Meeting Program Chair. Jean Bedard pointed out that there is variability in the process of planning regional meetings, with some regions not involving the Section chairs in their choice of papers. Because there is no direct authority over overall chairs of the regional meetings, there is no ability to affect this process.

The Committee also discussed appointing the Research Directors of partnering organizations to the Section's Research Committee, perhaps as ex officio members or informal liaisons.

Karen further noted that it makes sense to have all nomination deadlines for awards be at the same date, prior to the Annual Meeting. Thus, nominating committees could have a face-to-face meeting at the Annual Meeting to begin their work. Karen moved, and Barry Cushing seconded, that all award announcements use July 1 as a deadline date for nominations or submissions. The motion passed, by a vote of 6 in favor, 0 against.

The next topic of discussion was the position of Web Editor, specifically the nature of the role for this new officer and qualifications for the position. Tim noted that the responsibilities of the position relate to the content of material placed on the site, not the technical aspects of maintaining the site.

The Committee then discussed whether the new Notable Contributions to Auditing Award Committee should be headed by the Past President. Following discussion, Karen Pincus moved and Joe Carcello seconded that the Notable Contributions to Auditing Award Committee should consist of a Chair and four members to be appointed by the Academic Vice-President in consultation with the Executive Committee. The motion passed by a vote of 6 in favor, 0 against.

Gary Braun, Editor, The Auditor's Report
Information

Gary reported that he will focus on innovation, in keeping with Tim Bell's focus as President. Discussion ensued of the possibility of continuing the series on the practice implications of auditing research that was begun under Barry Cushing's Presidency. Gary agreed that this was important and that the newsletter could continue to produce some such reports.

Gary Braun, Editor, The Auditor's Report
Action

Barry Cushing brought up the issue of advertising in the newsletter. Jack Krogstad and Karen Pincus noted that it might be possible to obtain revenues by allowing advertisers in AAA publications also to run ads in Auditing Section publications on a package basis, at an incremental fee. Gary said that he would investigate this possibility

Krogstad, Sullivan, Braun
Action

Jack Krogstad noted that the newsletter is short on things going on in the practice community that auditing professors need to know about, such as activities of the SEC, the POB, the IIA, etc. Jerry Sullivan agreed to pursue this issue, to see if we can develop a method to summarize and make available such information on a regular basis. Gary Braun will work with him, with a goal to report back to the Committee by April 1.

Bill Dilla, Chair, CPE Committee
Information, Action

Bill provided an update on the current status of CPE planning at the AAA level. Further discussion of the Section's CPE activities at the Regional, Annual and Midyear meetings took place.

Faye Borthick, Chair, Communications Committee
Bell, Borthick, Pincus
Information, Action

Faye reported that Lynn Adair, who is on the faculty at Hofstra University, is handling the posting of items to the Section's web site. Because Lynn does not have an official position within the Section, Tim Bell will appoint her Webmaster until the August meeting. Faye will follow up with AAA personnel to assess the current ideas of AAA personnel regarding relationships with the Sections on web pages, and their proposed fee structure for assistance in design. Karen Pincus decided to wait until this information was gained before appointing a Web Editor.

Faye further reported that some articles from AJPT will be up on the site soon. A discussion followed regarding whether electronic publication of research articles is a threat to Section revenues, given that ProQuest and others pay the Section for use of AJPT articles. Another effort sponsored by the Communications Committee is the promotion of distance learning in auditing, which is the subject of a panel at the Midyear Meeting.

Stan Biggs, Chair, Midyear Meeting Committee
Bell, Biggs
Information, Action

Stan presented a report on the planning of the Midyear meeting. One issue of concern is the possibility of switching to a later date to avoid semester start dates, perhaps in February around President's Day weekend. This would have a further benefit of moving the paper submission date to October 1. Tim Bell will get a show of hands at the Business Meeting on this issue, and send an email to get feedback from members not present at the meeting.

Cushing
Information

Barry Cushing reported that the appointment of Arnie Wright as Editor of Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory for 2000-2003 has been finalized. Arnie and Bill Felix have been in contact to arrange for the transition as of July 1, 1999.

Barry also reported that there had been no responses to his report on contested elections, appearing in The Auditor's Report. The issue will be discussed at the upcoming Business Meeting.

Cushing, Carcello, Bedard
Information, Action

Further, Barry noted that the draft policies for the Notable Contributions to Auditing Award should be revised in light of the July 1 deadline for all awards passed earlier in this meeting. Jean Bedard moved, and Barry Cushing seconded, that the Executive Committee approve the revised policy. The motion carried, 6 in favor, 0 against. Joe Carcello will ask for final editorial changes and then submit the call for nominations to The Auditor's Report for the Winter issue. Also, Jean Bedard will draft announcements for the Outstanding Educator and Distinguished Service Awards based on prior announcements, and forward to Gary Braun for the Winter issue. She will also request that Gary repeat the call for nominations for the Outstanding Dissertation Award.

Bell
Information, Action

Next on the agenda was the issue of possible expansion of the composition of the Executive Committee to include the Directors of Research and Education. The genesis of this suggestion is that since research and education are the primary functions of the Section, it may be valuable for members responsible for those functions to be a part of discussions on policy issues that take place in XC meetings. Karen Pincus noted that at the national AAA level, the Directors of Research and Education do sit on the Executive Committee, but that these offices are responsible for multiple committees, and thus their roles are more broad than those currently constituted in the Section. Further, it was noted that there has been strong opposition to including individuals in nonelective positions as voting members of the XC. As a compromise position, the Committee discussed issuing an invitation to participate on a trial basis. Jean Bedard moved, and Barry Cushing seconded, that we invite the current Directors of Research and Education to participate as nonvoting observers in the Executive Committee meeting on the Sunday prior to the Annual Meeting in San Diego, and to pay their expenses for the incremental day consistent with the Section's policy for elected officers. The motion carried, 6 in favor, 0 against.

Bell
Information, Action

Tim Bell noted that the Section needs to appoint a new Historian as of the upcoming Annual Meeting, and that the appointment will be made by Karen Pincus. He thanked Jack Krogstad for his exemplary service as Historian and in the many prior roles he has played in the organization.

Bell
Information, Action

The Committee discussed whether the Section's Operating Manual should be put on the web site once the final version is available in electronic form. It was decided that this should be deferred until the position of Web Editor is filled.

Pincus
Information/Action

Karen Pincus noted that 2001 is the 25th anniversary of the Auditing Section, and that some special plans should be made to celebrate that event. One suggestion is to acknowledge prior award winners. Karen and the new President-Elect will work with the Chair of that meeting to plan the anniversary celebration.

Carcello, Bedard
Information

Joe Carcello presented the Treasurer's Report, and a brief discussion took place of the following items: (1) Posting of membership dues may be slower this year due to the timing of the Annual Meeting. (2) An increase in copyright revenues appears in the report. These come to the Section intermittently, and it is not clear how long a period each payment represents. (3) There is a decline in submission fees to Auditing, consistent with the report from the Editor that submissions have declined. The Committee discussed possible reasons for the decline in submissions, and a concern was expressed regarding turnaround time. Several suggestions were made that might be helpful to Arnie Wright, the upcoming Editor, in this regard. First, a limit might be placed on the number of manuscripts sent to each Editorial Board member in a given year. This might reduce the perception that sending in a review quickly results in more reviews. Second, the suggestion was made that the timing of submissions and reviews be noted with each publication.

Bell, Pincus
Information, Action

Tim Bell led a discussion of the current activity of the Section's Practice Advisory Council, specifically how to maintain and improve the Council's role in Section activities. Jack Krogstad asked about the current status of the AAA Practice Advisory Council, and Karen Pincus agreed to investigate.

Carcello
Information

Joe Carcello provided a preliminary report on the 1999 Annual Meeting program. A number of submissions have been received in advance of the due date. A luncheon speaker has been engaged, who will talk on the subject of distance learning.

Pincus, Cushing
Information, Action

Karen Pincus discussed the need to improve the Section's liaison system, in which officers are assigned to specific committees. Reporting dates for committees will be set, and reports will be exchanged. Officer liaisons are responsible for assuring that these reports are produced and exchanged in a timely manner. Karen will include the guidelines in letters to committee chairs, and will send out email reminders as reporting dates approach.

Submitted by Jean C. Bedard, Secretary

BUSINESS MEETING
January 15, 1999

MEETING LOCATION: Atlanta, Georgia

The meeting was called to order by Tim Bell, President, at 1:00 PM, with approximately 90 Auditing Section members in attendance. Tim thanked the members for coming, noting that this Midyear meeting set a record for attendance (227 registrations). He thanked Stan Biggs, the Chair of the planning committee, and other members of the committee for their efforts.

Karen Pincus thanked members who have volunteered for committee service for 1999-2000 and noted that appointments would be made over the next month. All who volunteered by email will receive a response. Karen also announced that volunteers were still needed for the Communications Committee (deals with electronic dissemination issues) and for a new post of Web Editor (deals with content and design issues on the web site). Karen announced that the 2001-2002 year would be the 25th anniversary of the Section and that the 2001 Midyear Meeting will include some special events to mark this occasion. A brief discussion of the timing and location of the Midyear Meeting followed. The January date creates problems for some members due to schools starting classes, prompting consideration of moving the meeting to a later date. By show of hands, most members who attended this Midyear Meeting would still have attended if the meeting were up to a month later; about half a dozen would have had a conflict with a later date. Tim Bell will send an email poll to all members to gather additional feedback on the date of future meetings. By show of hands, a larger number of members viewed the possibility of holding a future Midyear Meeting at an international site as a disadvantage than those who viewed it as an attraction.

Barry Cushing presented nominations for the positions of Vice President-Academic (Urton Anderson and Stan Biggs) and Treasurer (Mark Beasley and Dennis Hanno). There were no nominations from the floor. It was moved and seconded that nominations be closed, and the election was held by secret ballot. Stan Biggs was elected Vice President-Academic and Mark Beasley was elected Treasurer.

Joe Carcello, Treasurer, reviewed the Section's financial activity for the period September 1, 1997 through August 30, 1998. A Statement of Cash Receipts, Disbursements and Cash Balance is included in these minutes as Appendix A.

Bill Felix (Editor, Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory) presented a report on submissions and acceptance rates for the journal. He noted that the number of submissions was down, but acceptance rates up, from the prior year. That report is included in these minutes as Appendix B.

Barry Cushing led a discussion of the issue of whether the Section should continue holding contested elections. This discussion followed up on a report by Barry in The Auditor's Report, presenting a balanced view of both sides of this issue. A number of points were brought out by the members present, including the following:

• The number of members voting at any given meeting is small compared to the total membership.
• The Section may miss getting the services of the losing candidate.
• The Nominating Committee could be broadened to reduce the appearance of a "clique" in the nominations process.
• The Section could explore web-based or mail elections.
• An officer in another Section using mailed ballots noted that in some elections, only 10 ballots had been received. Further, the AAA has had difficulty getting ballots back.
• The Section has had contested elections since its first set of officers. It would be interesting to know the post-election experience of those who "came in second", to see if this really affected their subsequent service.
• Several members who had "come in second" in past elections noted that they supported contested elections, and had been happy to serve the Section in other ways following the election.
• A former President of another Section of the AAA said that not having an election poses serious disadvantages, with more potential for inbreeding and greater dissatisfaction by individuals not selected for office.
• Another member noted that the AAA itself, which does not hold contested elections, has been criticized for not being democratic.

A straw vote on the issue showed 76 in favor of contested elections, and 8 against.

Ken Trotman, Director of Research, led a discussion regarding the possibility of the Section sponsoring a monograph on research methods. This suggestion is based on the value of having a "how-to" compendium of a range of methods commonly used in auditing research, developed by experts in each field. In response, members noted a similar monograph prepared by Jon Davis for the ATA, as well as a series of Australian monographs on methods. Also, it was noted that Sage Publications has a series that deals with these issues. A suggestion of a web-based interactive site on research methods was also made.

Karen Hooks, Director of Education, presented a report and discussion on the AAA course page exchange project. Suggestions were made by members as to how to increase participation in the project.

Joanna Ho, Midyear Program Chairperson for 2000, reported on the progress of the meeting, which is to be held in Newport Beach, California on January 13-15, 2000.

Submitted by: Jean C. Bedard, Secretary

Appendix A

distributed electronically during the first quarter of FYE 98.

Appendix B

AUDITING: A JOURNAL OF PRACTICE AND THEORY

William L. Felix, Jr., Editor

December 31, 1998

 7/1/96-12/31/971/1/98-12/31/98

Manuscript Flow

Submissions

New123 (81%)66 (65%)

Resubmissions 29 (19%)35 (35%)

Available for decision152101

Decisions made129 63

Out for review or awaiting decision 23 38

 Acceptance Rates

Accepted for publication 10 ( 8%)20 (32%)

Returned for revision37 (29%)13 (21%)

Rejected 82 (63%)30 (47%)

 Reviewing Times Mean/Median/StdDevMean/Median/StdDev

Number of days for reviewers to respond 56 50 28 57 50 30

    The above report describes the manuscript flow, time-to-review, and decision making for AJPT for the period January 1, 1998 through December 31, 1998. During this period, two issues of the journal were submitted to the AAA office for publication as the Fall, 1998 and Spring, 1999 issues. A title page from the Spring, 1999 issue is attached.

The total of 66 new submissions compares to 83 for the prior year. The average time to an initial decision of 100 days during this period compares to approximately 87 days for the prior year. The 20 manuscripts selected for publication includes nine that have been tentatively selected for the Fall, 1999 issue. While it is difficult to be precise about acceptance rates, it is my belief that the average rate is about 15 percent. This year's 32% is, of course, much higher than last year's 8%, but it includes several papers that took several revisions to reach a publishable condition.

 January 12, 1999

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