Robert Kalb Elliott

Although he had “no inkling he would become an accountant” while studying mathematics as an undergraduate at Harvard College, Robert K. (Bob) Elliott (1941-2022) became a visionary leader, committed to increasing the relevance of the services provided by Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) while seeking to make that community more diverse. After receiving an MBA from the Rutgers Business School, his career took a path toward accountancy. The international firm KPMG was his base and professional home from 1964-2001. He served as an advisor to six Chairs of the Firm.

Known for his direct, intellectual, and outspoken manner, he viewed “accounting as the information infrastructure that permits resources to flow to their highest and best uses,” a necessary but not sufficient condition for a well-running economy. Elliott contributed significantly to widely-read and discussed reports including the Report of The Advisory Committee on Capital Formation and Regulatory Processes (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 1996); Improving Business Reporting – A Customer Focus: Meeting the Information Needs of Investors and Creditors (AICPA, 1994); and The Measurement of Corporate Social Performance (AICPA, 1977). During his career, Elliott contributed to or solely authored more than 100 articles and books. In recognition of his contributions to the accounting literature, Elliott received the American Accounting Association’s 1992 AICPA Wildman Award. Consistent with his scholarly vision, he convinced the KPMG Foundation to create Research Opportunities in Auditing, a program designed to enable research relevant to the accounting profession. In 2002, the Auditing Section of the American Accounting Association chose him to receive its Lifetime Achievement Award.

Elliott envisioned an accountancy “profession that needed to modernize.” He was often far ahead of his contemporaries’ views. In 1997, he was awarded the AICPA’s Gold Medal for Distinguished Service. Focused on the future of the profession, Elliott served on the Strategic Planning Committee and the Special Committee on Assurance Services (the Elliott Committee) of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and was Board Chair of the AICPA from 1999-2000.

In his first address as Board Chair to the leadership of the AICPA, he noted that an accounting system was the nervous system of an enterprise that permits the enterprise to perceive and act. Speaking on the eve of the new millennium he said: “I foresee that CPAs will understand the risks and opportunities of the global economy and profit from the international services.” He added: "CPAs will identify and deploy knowledge needed for strategic planning and investments, for marketing decisions, for measuring effectiveness – all this and more.”

Consistent with his focus on the future of the profession, Elliott was a leading proponent of increasing the diversity of the profession. He and his KPMG partner colleague Bernie Milano reasoned that the most expedient way to increase the number of minority students entering the profession was to increase the number of minority educators teaching and conducting research in colleges of business. With the support of the KPMG Foundation and Milano’s leadership, The PhD Project has been credited with quintupling the number of PhD business school minority faculty and, in turn, increasing the number of graduates entering and succeeding in the accounting profession.

Elliott and his wife Lee, childhood friends, were married for 59 years. Their sons David and Don and their wives plus grandson Maxim and immediate family are the genealogical heritage of Robert K. Elliott, the 114th member of The Accounting Hall of Fame.