Zoe-Vonna Palmrose

Zoe-Vonna Palmrose was raised in Astoria, Oregon, where her father was known as the Finnish doctor and her mother was a nurse before devoting full-time to her family that grew to eight children, she found accounting through a part-time job as a teller that led to taking a principles of accounting class at the local community college. Captivated by the elegance and symmetry of the accounting equation, she changed her undergraduate major from science to business and accounting.

Zoe-Vonna is recognized as an expert in translating the complexities and jargon of accounting into plain English for general audiences. She is Professor Emeritus of Accounting at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business.

From 2006 to 2008, she served as Deputy Chief Accountant for Professional Practice in the Office of the Chief Accountant at the Securities and Exchange Commission. In 2008, she was named one of the 100 most influential people in finance by Treasury and Risk Magazine; and, she was included among Business Finance Magazine’s influencers in 2004, 2005, and 2007. She has published and spoken extensively on a variety of issues related to the quality of financial reporting and auditing, including restatements, materiality, regulation of the profession, audit litigation, the pricing of audit services, and non-audit services. She co-authored Thog’s Guide to Quantum Economics: 50,000 Years of Accounting Basics for the Future. with Mike Brown, former Microsoft CFO and past NASDAQ Chairman.

Zoe-Vonna’s research has been recognized by the AAA with the Competitive Manuscript Award and the California Society of CPAs Accounting Faculty Fellow Award. She was honored in 2003, and again in 2006, with the Deloitte Foundation Wildman Medal Award.

Zoe-Vonna has been an active member of the AAA serving on various committees. She served as a member of the Public Oversight Board’s Panel on Audit Effectiveness; and, she was a member of the ASB Fraud Task Force, which developed SAS No. 99, Consideration of Fraud in a Financial Statement Audit. In 2003, she received the AAA Auditing Section’s Distinguished Service Award in recognition of her significant and sustained contributions to the academic auditing profession.

A CPA, Zoe-Vonna has worked in public accounting and private industry. She received her B.S. from Oregon State University, and her MBA and Ph.D. from the University of Washington.

Zoe-Vonna Palmrose is the One Hundredth member of The Accounting Hall of Fame.