A Successful Year? Yes, it’s summer again already. According to the Auditing Section calendar, as well as the academic calendar, this means we must be wrapping up “another successful year,” a traditional topic of the President’s Final Report. As someone who came of age in the 1960s, however, it’s only natural for me to press for a definition of success, before I make my report to you.

Bob Dylan, another college student of the ‘60s, had his own definition of success. He held that “A man is a success if he gets up in the morning, and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.” By that definition, the members of the Auditing Section, individually and collectively, can claim much success. We are all lucky to be doing what we really want to do, in a field that keeps changing in interesting ways. Think about just a few examples at the Section level. This was the year when we decided to make our Section journal available electronically for the first time. It was the year when the members responded in great numbers to a request for their views for presentation to the Public Oversight Board’s Panel on Audit Effectiveness. It was the year of the Section’s first doctoral consortium, held in conjunction with our 2000 Midyear Meeting.

Henry Ford had a theory of success that was just as individual as Bob Dylan’s. He said: “Coming together is a beginning. Staying together is progress, and working together is success.” According to this theory, the Auditing Section is a major success because this Section really works together. Some of the best evidence of that work is on display this August at the Annual Meeting and more will be on display as the Section celebrates its 25th anniversary at our 2001 Midyear Meeting in the near future. I’ll focus a little on the Annual Meeting here, just to whet your appetite for further details elsewhere in this newsletter. The Midyear Meeting concurrent sessions schedule is on page 3 of this issue or on our web site.

The 2000 Annual Meeting

This year’s Annual Meeting is in Philadelphia, home of the Liberty Bell and downtown squares that present a new driving challenge for those of us from small college towns. Our featured speaker at the Monday section luncheon will be Dr. Burks Oakley II, who holds joint appointments in the Electrical Engineering Department of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, the Computer Science and MIS Departments of the University of Illinois at Springfield, and in the School of Biomedical, Health and Information Systems at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Oakley is an award-winning educator who also directs the UI-online initiative, a program to facilitate the development and delivery of internet-based courses. His presentation will be “Netlearning: The Impact of the Internet on Higher Education.” It promises to be a lively and thought-provoking lunch!

As always, the section received a strong group of research paper submissions, resulting in nine excellent research paper sessions throughout the meeting, as well as a number of auditing papers at the research forum. In addition, this is a particularly exciting year for panel presentations. On Monday afternoon Tom Powell, of The Powell Group and Chair of the Section’s Practice Advisory Council, has put together a star-studded group to talk about risk assessment. Presenters, who will share examples from their own organizations as they discuss practical aspects of risk assessment, include: Jeri Calle, KPMG; Steve Doherty, Credit Lyonnais and also Chairman of the Board of Research Advisors for the IIA; Lyn Graham, BDO Seidman; and Graham Joscelyne, World Bank.

A little later that afternoon, the Section is sponsoring an at-large panel session concerning the Public Oversight Board’s Panel on Audit Effectiveness. The Panel will present an overview of the recent report and recommendations of that body. Presenters will include Panel Chair Shaun O’Malley, former Chair of Price Waterhouse LLP; Panel member Zoe-Vonna Palmrose, University of Southern California; and lead Panel staff member David Pearson, Public Oversight Board. Two commentators will also share their views: David Landsittel, who was such a hit as a plenary speaker at our 2000 Midyear Meeting, and Andy Bailey, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

On Tuesday another panel will present an early look at the results of four AICPA-funded research projects on the effectiveness of SAS 82, which is concerned with the auditor’s responsibility for fraud detection. As Auditing Standards Board Chair Deborah Lambert noted in March 1999, when these projects were chosen by the ASB, “When we released SAS 82, the Board made a commitment to seek periodic feedback on the standard to assess how well it is accomplishing its objectives, as well as to identify any further steps that need to be taken. We believe these research projects will help us make sure that SAS 82 continues to be relevant to the audit process.”

Thanks to Bob Ramsay and Robin Roberts—and to all who served as reviewers or submitted papers and panel ideas—for putting together an annual meeting program that holds such an abundance of attractions for section members.

My Own Theory of Success

I developed my own theory about success this year. This was a difficult year for me because in the fall my husband had unexpected triple bypass surgery. That experience made me think a lot about what it means to be successful in life. A life where you have lots of family and friends at your side is certainly successful. And, a life where you remember to give back something to support those who haven’t yet achieved what you have, is another mark of success. As Bob Hope once said, “If you haven’t got any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble.”

So, I am personally grateful to the Executive Committee and all the Section committees who gave so much of themselves to make this year a success—there is no heart trouble in this group.

I hope to see you in Philadelphia. And whatever your personal definition of success is, may the coming year be your most successful yet.

Karen Pincus
University of Arkansas