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 winner(s) will be announced and the winner(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 March 1. 

The chair of the committee is Oktay Urcan (ourcan@illinois.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

2018Professor Richard Sloan, Professor of Accounting, University of Southern California
2016Professor Mary E. Barth, Joan E. Horngren Professor of Accounting, Stanford University
2015 Professor Robert E. Verrecchia, Elizabeth 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

Dear FARS Members and Visitors,

The Financial Accounting and Reporting Section represents a diverse set of academics who employ numerous research and teaching approaches to further our understanding of how financial reporting shapes the way our world works. We operate to achieve objectives related to research, education and professional practice of financial reporting and analysis.

A Steering Board is responsible for the stewardship of the section. However, we rely crucially on volunteers, who serve in various roles in support of our mission. Our most recent annual and midyear meetings reflected the combined efforts of hundreds of members, who reviewed academic papers submissions, organized sessions, moderated, presented and served in numerous other roles. I am amazed at the level of commitment our members have to our profession.

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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. JFR’s target audience is financial reporting researchers. JFR will publish two regular issues each year. JFR will also occasionally publish themed issues dedicated to studies that launch a new question or move the literature forward in an existing area.

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Research

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).