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 once every five to ten years in steady state. Therefore, FARS will not request nominations for this award on an annual basis although FARS members may submit nominations of candidates meeting the above criteria to the FARS President. Nominations must be submitted at least six months prior to the date of the FARS Midyear Meeting in which an award may be given. The nomination form can be downloaded by CLICKING HERE.

The FARS President will appoint an ad hoc committee from the membership of the steering board, as needed, to evaluate potential candidates for the award, including nominees submitted by FARS members. The ad hoc committee’s recommendations along with information on all nominations will be forwarded to the FARS Steering Board for its consideration. 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.

Recipients

2015 Professor Robert E. Verrecchia

2014 Ray Ball, Sidney Davidson Distinguished Service Professor of Accounting

2013 Dr. William H. Beaver, Joan E. Horngren Professor of Accounting, Emeritus, Stanford University
Dr. Ross L. Watts, Erwin H. Schell Professor of Management, Massachusetts of Institute of Technology