Financial Accounting and Reporting Section
Lifetime Achievement Award

The Financial Accounting and Reporting Section (FARS) of the American Accounting Association (AAA) has established a lifetime achievement award. The purpose of the award is to recognize an individual’s achievements in outstanding thought leadership in financial accounting research over the course of his/her career. The Award will not be given with any specific periodicity but rather when an eligible recipient is identified.

The FARS Steering Board shall be solely responsible for the selection of the Award Recipient(s) using the following selection criteria:

  • Candidates must be viewed as trailblazers, whose research has opened new areas of study and has reshaped the thinking of the academic community in a fundamental way.
  • The candidates’ works that sowed the seeds for award consideration must have been published at least 20 years prior to the year in which the award will be bestowed.
  • Consideration for the award will be based on the cumulative impact the candidates’ works have had and continues to have on academic thought.

A candidate must receive the support of at least 75% of the FARS Steering Board members (11 out of 14 members) to be given the award. The name of any award recipient(s) will be announced and the recipient(s) will be recognized and presented with a citation at the FARS Midyear Meeting.

Given the listed criteria, the expectation is that the choice of the award winner is likely to be uncontroversial and would be viewed as a celebration of path-breaking contributions to financial accounting research, with the award given only when a candidate meets the criteria. FARS members may submit nominations of candidates meeting the above criteria to the Chair of the Lifetime Achievement & PhD Mentoring Awards Committee by September 15th, annually. 

The Chair of the committee is Karthik Balakrishnan (karthik.balakrishnan@rice.edu).  Nominated candidates not selected for the award to be given in the following Midyear meeting may be considered by the FARS steering board for a future award.

Lifetime Achievement Award Winners

 
2025 SP Kothari, MIT
2024 Charles Lee, University of Washington's Foster School of Business
2023 Katherine Schipper, Duke University
2022 Stephen Penman, Columbia University
2021 Professor Jack Hughes, Emeritus Professor of Accounting, University of California - Los Angeles
2020 Professor Jerry Zimmerman, Professor Emeritus, Ronald L. Bittner Professor of Business Administration, University of Rochester
2019 Professor Daniel W. Collins, Henrey B. Tippie Research Chair in Accounting, University of Iowa
2018 Professor Richard Sloan, Professor of Accounting, University of Southern California
2016 Professor Mary E. Barth, Joan E. Horngren Professor of Accounting, Stanford University
2015 Professor Robert E. VerrecchiaElizabeth F. Putzel Professor of Accounting, University of Pennsylvania
2014 Professor Ray Ball, Sidney Davidson Distinguished Service Professor of Accounting, University of Chicago
2013 Professor William H. Beaver, Joan E. Horngren Professor of Accounting, Emeritus, Stanford University
Professor Ross L. Watts, Erwin H. Schell Professor of Management, Massachusetts of Institute of Technology

President's Letter

FARS President

Dear FARS Section Members,

Welcome to the 2025–2026 academic year! I am excited to serve as your Section President and to continue the strong tradition of scholarship and community that makes FARS such a special home within the AAA.

I would like to thank John Jiang for his thoughtful leadership this past year. Under his guidance, the section had a successful year filled with high-quality research presentations, thoughtful discussions, and meaningful connections. The Annual Meeting last month was also a great success, with 475 submissions. I am grateful to all of you who contributed by presenting, reviewing, moderating, or attending.

Looking ahead, I am pleased to share that our 2025–2026 committees are already staffed and ready to get to work. Thank you to those of you who volunteered to serve—your time and effort are critical to advancing the section’s mission.

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Journal

Journal of Financial Reporting

The Journal of Financial Reporting (JFR) is the academic journal of the Financial Accounting and Reporting Section of the American Accounting Association. 

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Research

FARS Research Objectives:

  • A. to encourage, facilitate, and publicize research in financial accounting and reporting.
  • B. to communicate interests, intentions, and actual work-in-process in the area.
  • C. to identify areas in need of research.
  • D. to provide opportunities for public exposure of research results through AAA meetings (annual, regional, and special meetings devoted solely to financial accounting and reporting) and publications (including working papers and a separate journal for financial accounting and reporting, if warranted).