2025-2026 Accounting Horizons Memorials Committee

The purpose of the Accounting Horizons (Horizons) Memorials Committee is to oversee selecting individuals to be memorialized and authors to write the articles. 

Charge

Selection of individuals to be memorialized:

The committee will organize a nomination process each year to identify the individuals to be memorialized. The Call for Nominations will be issued in August with the deadline for nominations on November 30 of the calendar year. There is no quota for the number of selected individuals each year. The committee may decide to select none from the nominations. The committee may also solicit nominations of individuals who might be deserving but overlooked.  

• Eligibility of an individual to be nominated:
  • Contributed significantly to accounting thought or the development of the accounting profession, which includes academics, preparers, practitioners, standard setters, and regulators.
  • Deceased at least 365 days before the nomination date.
• Nomination documents: 
  • Nomination letter: one to two pages, single spaced, with the name and title of the nominee before his/her retirement and the name and contact information of the nominator(s). The letter should include a brief biographical sketch of the nominee and outline their major contributions. 
  • Letters of support: please include three to five letters of support.  
  • Supporting material: the nominator(s) is encouraged to include significant supporting primary source material up to five items. If a specific item is available online, please add the link to the website instead of attaching the actual document.
  • Vita/Resume: please include the latest vita or resume (if available) for the nominee. 
• Evaluation of nominations:
  • The committee will invite reviewers who are not among the nominators to evaluate nominations in a single-blind process (i.e., the nominators do not know the identities of the reviewers). The reviewers are typically given a month for an evaluation. The committee will discuss the merits of each nomination based on the committee members’ own reading of the nomination material and the reviewers’ feedback. The committee’s decision on each nomination will follow the majority rule. The nominators will be notified of the committee’s decisions by March of the following year.

Selection of authors to write a memorial:

• After an individual is selected to be memorialized, the committee will select a primary author to write the memorial. This primary author might not be among the nominators for the selected individual. The committee will provide the nomination material to the primary author and may advise them to add certain coauthors, including an accounting historian and/or one of the nominators. The President of the AAA's Academy of Accounting Historians (AAH) will identify a select list of researchers, with experience writing biographies, who are interested in coauthoring memorials if invited. However, the ultimate decision of whether or how to form the coauthor team will rest with the primary author. 
• Guidelines for authors: 
  • A memorial in Horizons is not a biography or an obituary. The latter are available in newspapers or general books. 
  • A memorial in Horizons should focus on the individual’s seminal contributions to accounting thought or the revolution of the accounting profession.  
  • A memorial in Horizons is expected to take readers behind the scenes to understand the factors that have contributed to the individual’s accomplishments. For example, characteristics of the individual, major events in their life journey, environmental factors that have influenced the individual, and any changes of mind or further thought after the individual’s public recognition of an original thought. 
  • The structure of a memorial is expected to differ from that of an original research article. Authors may use the following publications as examples:
    • Bedford, N. M and R. E. Ziegler. 1975. The contributions of A. C. Littleton to accounting thought and practice. The Accounting Review 50 (3): 434-443. 
    • Birnberg, J. G., M. Bromwich, and J. Roberts. 2013. Anthony G. Hopwood: Academic iconoclast and entrepreneur 1944-2010. Accounting Horizons 27 (4): 895-907. https://doi.org/10.2308/acch-10361
    • Banker, R. D. and R. S. Kaplan. 2014. William W. Cooper: Innovator, fighter, and scholar. Accounting Horizons 28 (1): 193-203. https://doi.org/10.2308/acch-10387
    • Zeff, S. A. and M. E. Persson, 2020, Donald T. Nicolaisen: An internationalist SEC Chief Accountant (1944–2019). Accounting Horizons 34 (2): 185-191. https://doi.org/10.2308/acch-10727

Review process and publication of a memorial:

• The submission fee for memorial articles will be waived. Under the editorial policy of Horizons, all submitted articles will be peer reviewed. There is no guarantee that a submitted memorial article will be published even though the committee has selected the individual to be memorialized and the primary author to write up the article. The review process for a memorial submission is expected to use two reviewers, with one being an accounting historian. The handling editor or the senior editor of Horizons may consult the President of AAH for recommendations of accounting historians who can serve as reviewers.  
• If a submission does not progress as expected and does not meet the publication standard of Horizons, the senior editor of Horizons will communicate the situation to the committee, which will select a new primary author. The review process outcome will not affect the committee’s selection decision on the memorialized individual. 

Membership

• New Committee members are appointed prior to the Annual Meeting by the  AAA Management Team.
• The Committee will consist of five members, including the current Senior Editor of Accounting Horizons (AH) and the current President of the AAA's Academy of Accounting Historians (AAH). Three other members are appointed by the AAA Management Team and will each serve a three-year term in staggering fashion.

Estimated Time Commitment

• The Committee meets as needed at the discretion of the Chair. 

Responsibilities

• Fulfill the Committee charge as above.
• If the Chair has any questions about the charge or responsibilities of this committee, s/he should contact the Chief Executive Officer or the President.
• The Chair must submit at least one report per year to the Board of Directors. This report should include accomplishments and suggested modifications and should be sent to the AAA President, the Task Force's Board of Directors Liaison, and Governance Manager, Barbara Gutierrez (barbara.gutierrez@aaahq.org).

Members

The May 2025 Policy of Memorials in Accounting Horizons can be found HERE.