Dear Colleague:

On behalf of all the presenters, manuscripts reviewers, AAA Section representatives, President John Karayan and other members of the Executive Committee, I would like to extend a personal invitation to you to attend the 1999 WAAA meeting scheduled to take place Thursday, April 29 through Saturday, May 1 in Newport Beach, California. Newport Beach is located in Orange County, one hour south of Los Angeles and two hours north of San Diego. Aside from the excellent educational program we have arranged for this meeting, we are planning to provide you and your family a rare opportunity to enjoy the unique beauty of Orange County. The region's gentle year round climate offers plentiful opportunities to sample several attractions such as Disneyland, ocean beaches, sport fishing, whale watching, surfing, bike/hiking trails, art galleries, museums, theatre, wineries, shopping and sporting events. More specific information about what to do in Orange County and the surrounding area is included in the enclosed pamphlet from the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor's Convention Bureau. The bureau's web site is http://www.anaheimoc.org. You may also find out more to do in Newport Beach by contacting the following web site of the Newport Beach Conference and Visitor Bureau at http://www.newportbeach-cvb.com.

The theme of this year's meeting is electronic commerce and the accounting profession. Our keynote speaker is Mr.Grayson Hoberg, CFO of Earthlink, who's talk is entitled "Electronic Commerce and the World as Our Students Will Know It." Our program also addresses current topics in all areas of accounting. As you can see from the tentative program, the regular session and research forum focus on issues which include all the research sections of the AAA as well as history. Eight very informative CPE workshops have been arranged. Also, eighteen cutting edge panels, some sponsored by such organizations as the AICPA, SEC, AACSB, NASBA, FASB, and KPMG have been finalized. In addition, a number of prospective panels are still in process and will be added to the tentative program as they become finalized. We are expecting panels from the Accounting Historians, IMA, and various AAA Sections. In addition, we expect to add representatives from major CPA firms to some of our panels. For updates and to register on-line, see our web page at http://raw.rutgers.edu/raw/aaa/western/western.htm

I have brought two items to the WAAA. One is the Research Forum. Our region has had the reputation of receiving more submissions than most of the other AAA regions and we have also had a relatively higher rejection rate. At the same time, because of space limitations, we have had to exclude many quality papers out of the program that were accepted by our reviewers. The Research Forum has solved this problem as all manuscripts accepted for the program this year are in the program. This year, after the reviewers determined what papers were to be accepted, they were instructed to assign the papers to the regular sessions or the research forum. We have provided space for the Research Forum and additional panels and presentations by eliminating the plenary session. The only differences between the treatment of the regular session and research forum papers is in length of presentation time and size of audience. The regular session papers will be given a 20 minute time limit for presentation compared to 90 minutes for the research forum papers. Compared to the 30-40 member audience for the regular sessions, the audience for the research forum papers will be smaller. These two differences should result in relatively more interaction between the presenters and small group audience in the the research forum.

The second item that I have brought to the program is an attitude that all partners in our profession should have a spot on our program every year. I hope that organizations such as the FASB, AICPA, NASBA, SEC, AACSB, AAA Sections, CPA firms and other related organizations share their issues and concerns with us every year.

Please complete the registration statement at the end of this package [also available online] and mail it to our national office in Sarasota, FL (the address is stated on the form). Be sure to include your e-mail address on the form. Remember also that there is free transportation to and from the hotel and Orange County airport.

To register at the Westin South Coast Plaza Hotel, please fill out the enclosed reservation form and mail or FAX it to the hotel by March 31, 1999.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me by telephone at (509) 963-2144 or fax (509) 963-2875. My e-mail address is holtfrej@destiny.esd105.wednet.edu

Orange county is beautiful in April and May. We look forward to seeing you in Newport Beach.

Sincerely yours,

Bob Holtfreter
Distinguished Professor of Accounting and Research
WAAA Program Chair/Secretary/Treasurer

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