Henry Rand Hatfield

The son of Robert M. and Elizabeth Ann Taft Hatfield was born on November 27, 1866, in Chicago, Illinois. He received a bachelor's degree (1892) from Northwestern University and a doctor's degree (1897) from University of Chicago, where he graduated magna cum laude. He received honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from Northwestern University (1923) and University of California (1940).

From 1886 to 1890 he was affiliated with the municipal bond business. He was on the faculty of Washington University from 1894 to 1898, at which time he joined the University of Chicago serving as instructor (1898-1902), and assistant professor and the first Dean of the College of Commerce and Administration (1902-04). He then joined the University of California at Berkeley as an associate professor of accounting (1904-09). This was the first full-time professorial appointment in accounting in the United States. In 1909 he was promoted to professor, the position he held at retirement in 1937. He also served as Dean of the College of Commerce (1909-20; 1927-28) and Dean of Faculties (1916; 1917-18; 1920-23), the principal administrative office under the President of the University.

He was active in professional organizations serving as president (1919) and vice president (1917; 1918) of the AAA, which he helped form in 1916. He also served as vice president of the American Economic Association (1918) and Senator of Phi Beta Kappa (1923-28). He was appointed the U. S. representative to the International Congress on Commercial Education held in Amsterdam (1929), and he was an AAA representative to the Fourth International Congress of Accountants held in London (1933). During the academic year 1941-42 he was the Dickinson Lecturer at Harvard.

He wrote numerous articles for professional journals and he authored a number of books including Modern Accounting (1909), which was revised in 1927 as Accounting, Its Principles and Problems: A Statement of Accounting Principles with T. H. Sanders and U. Moore (1938); Accounting Principles and Practices with T. H. Sanders and N. L. Burton (1940); and Surplus and Dividends (1943). In 1928 he was given an award of merit by Beta Alpha Psi for the most outstanding contribution (Accounting, Its Principles and Problems) to the literature of accounting for the year ended May 1, 1928.

He served as president of the Berkeley, California, Commission of Charities (1914-18); director of the Division of Planning and Statistics, War Industries Board (1918); and member of the Berkeley War Appeals Board (1942).

He married Ethel A. Glover on June 15, 1898; they had three children. He died December 25, 1945 at the age of 79.