American Accounting Association

Financial Accounting and Reporting Section

Minutes of the Annual Business Meeting

August 4, 2003

Renée Price, Section President, called the meeting to order.

The minutes of the annual business meeting held August 15, 2002 were read and approved.

Treasurer’s Report:

Renée Price, on behalf of Elizabeth Oliver, Secretary/Treasurer of the section, distributed a Cash Flow Report, a comparison of budget to actual for the FARS 2003 mid-year meeting and budget projections for the section for 2003-2004, along with the minutes. The Cash Flow Report shows relatively stable dues. The largest cash outflow (amounting to $11,591) relates to the mid-year meeting. The Cash Flow Report shows an increasing cash balance and the budget for 2003-2004 projects a further increase in the cash balance.

A discussion then ensued about the growing cash balance and what if anything should be done about the balance and its continual growth. Bruce Johnson reported that comments made during AAA Council Meetings suggested that in the future, the AAA might push more expenses back onto the sections and regions, which could have the effect of shrinking the FARS cash balance. Katherine Schipper also cautioned that there is a very limited track record for understanding costs associated with the FARS mid-year, and that therefore, maintaining a healthy cash surplus is a prudent policy as the Section develops the newly instituted mid-year meeting. In the meantime, the FARS section is in the enviable position of having sufficient resources to conduct its activities without threat of financial difficulty.

Midyear Meeting Report:

During the presentation of the financial results of the mid-year meeting, S.P. Kothari suggested that a metric be developed for assessing mid-year meeting participants’ satisfaction with the meeting. Mary Lea McAnally requested a report on how well the mid-year annual meeting was received. A handful of written evaluations were received from attendees. Renee Price noted that the general impression from these evaluations and from oral comments made by attendees is that the meeting was well received.

The meeting then returned to the agenda item of reporting on the Steering Board’s February planning meeting, at which it was decided that the 2004 mid-year meeting format would be very similar to that of the 2003 meeting, including a doctoral consortium on Friday morning, plenary session on Friday afternoon, and 3-4 concurrent sessions on Saturday. On Saturday of the mid-year meeting, two research sessions and one teaching session will be scheduled for each 1 ½ hour time block. Renée Price announced that Robert Libby and Ron Dye have agreed to conduct the Doctoral Consortium. Planning continues for the plenary session. Kathy Petroni is coordinating the research sessions, with submissions currently being accepted through September 15. At its February 2003 meeting, the Steering Board decided that it wanted to continue to encourage participation by assistant professors and Ph.D. students by giving preference to papers that would be presented by assistants and students. (Note that Kathy Petroni and her research program committee are first evaluating papers in terms of quality, and then giving preference to papers to be presented by junior people.) Also, the format of charging a more senior discussant with the responsibility of discussing the papers and placing them in a broader framework will continue, as it was well received during the 2003 meeting. The importance of making the papers available to attendees in advance of the conference, to encourage deeper discussion of the papers during the Q&A portion of the session, was stressed. It was also noted that presenters are better prepared when they expect knowledgeable questions. Renée Price reported that FARS had paid a consultant, hired through the AAA staff, who has designed an electronic paper submission site; use of this site will ensure that electronic copies of all accepted papers will be available for access by meeting registrants prior to the mid-year meeting. A discussion of whether two or three papers should be included in each research session took place. It was decided that a decision on this issue would be left to the research program committee, depending on the quality and quantity of submissions. Education sessions currently under development include active learning, teaching valuation for accounting purposes, and an FASB/IASB session.

The membership discussed whether to continue the policy of waiving registration fees and paying one night’s lodging for each doctoral student in attendance. A motion to do so was moved, seconded and approved unanimously. A discussion then ensued about whether the cap of 70 students should be extended. A motion was made to continue the present 70 with an option by the steering committee to increase the cap if deemed appropriate. The motion was seconded and approved unanimously.

A draft of the Financial Accounting and Reporting Section – Reimbursement Policy was distributed along with e-mails from Linda Bamber and Tom Linsmeier containing comments regarding the proposed policy. A discussion then ensued regarding the need for a formal FARS reimbursement policy.

The discussion then turned to the relative merits of reimbursing midyear meeting costs for certain individuals involved in the planning of the mid-year meeting. Concerns were expressed that any reimbursement policy, which provides for the reimbursement of mid-year meeting expenses for some subset of individuals, was a slippery slope since it is difficult to decide where to draw the line regarding who should and who should not be reimbursed. Renée Price moved that the Program Chair, President/Chair of the section, and President-Elect/Chair of the section be reimbursed. Thomas Linsmeier voiced concern that this may not be the appropriate list of people as there may be others equally deserving of reimbursement. A comment was made that perhaps a mechanism could be put into place to reimburse expenses on a “needs” basis by limiting reimbursement to individuals who (a) are instrumental in the planning of the meeting, and (b) are from an institution unable to reimburse their meeting attendance costs. Following this discussion, Renée’s motion died on the floor without a vote. Katherine Schipper then proposed that the Steering Committee be given the authority to approve reimbursement for up to five individuals involved in the planning of the mid-year meeting. The proposal was second and approved on a vote of 16 (yes) to 7 (no). Terry Warfield noted for the record, that he opposed the proposal because other mid-year meeting related reimbursement issues are not covered by the reimbursement policy. For example, should individuals attending a meeting to set the mid-year meeting program be reimbursed for their travel expenses? Terry believes these individuals were reimbursed this year, but the new policy provides no guidance with respect to this issue. These issues will have to be dealt with at some point in a reimbursement policy document. Mary Lea McAnally noted for the record that she opposed the proposal because she would prefer a fixed maximum dollar amount be identified and the steering committee be given the authority to use their discretion in deciding whom to reimburse for mid-year meeting expenses and in what amount. Members decided to postpone discussion of reimbursement of group meals until a future business meeting of the FARS section.

Audio-Visual Costs:

Renée Price noted that the attempt to share with the other sections the cost of computer projection equipment for use at the annual meeting was not approved by the other sections. Since it is prohibitively costly to provide this equipment in the absence of such an agreement, the FAR section will continue to provide only an overhead projector to presenters at the mid-year and annual meetings. Mary Lea McAnally asked if it might be cost effective for the Section to purchase its own equipment. Thomas Linsmeier responded that this idea had been considered and abandoned due to the cost of storing, insuring and transporting the equipment. In addition, union rules often make it impossible to bring one’s own equipment into hotels and meeting places.

Officer Election and Committee Appointments:

Thomas Linsmeier, chair of the nominating committee, on which Mary Lea McAnnally and Tom Stober also served, provided the report of the nomination committee. Thomas Linsmeier proposed a single slate:

President-Elect: Terry Warfield, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Secretary/Treasurer: Christine Botosan, University of Utah

No nominations were received from the floor and the slate was approved unanimously. Next year Renee Price will head the nomination committee.

Renée Price then turned the presidency over to Bruce Johnson.

Bruce Johnson thanked Renée for her two years of service to the section in the capacity of Secretary/Treasurer, one year as President-elect and one year as President and presented Renée with a gift in recognition of her service. Bruce then introduced the FARS members who have agreed to serve on committee assignments this next year. The list of officers and committee chairs includes:

President Bruce Johnson (University of Iowa)

Vice President (from Practice) John Dirks (PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP)

Immediate Past President Renee Price (University of Nebraska)

President-Elect Terry D. Warfield (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Secretary/Treasurer Christine A. Botosan (University of Utah)

Newsletter (Financial Reporting Journal) To be announced.

Webmaster Robert Bricker (Case Western Reserve University)

CPE Committee Ray G. Stephens (Ohio University)

Best Paper Award Phillip Stocken (Dartmouth College)

Best Dissertation Award Mark A. Trombley (University of Arizona)

National and Regional Meeting Coordinators

National Meeting Dan Givoly (Penn State University)

Mid-Year Meeting Program Renee Price (University of Nebraska)

Mid-Year Meeting—Research Kathy R. Petroni (Michigan State University)

Mid-Atlantic Dorothy M. Mattison (University of Maryland Eastern Shore)

Midwest Joseph H. Anthony (Michigan State University)

Northeast Patricia M. Poli (Fairfield University)

Ohio Gyan Chandra (Miami University)

Southeast Dale L. Flesher (University of Mississippi)

Southwest Mary Lea McAnally (Texas A & M)

Western Herbert G. Hunt (California State University, Long Beach)

Steering Board

Linda Bamber (University of Georgia)

Jan Barton (Emory University)

Jeff Boone (Mississippi State University)

Mark. L. DeFond (University of Southern California)

S. P. Kothari (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Donna R. Philbrick (Portland State University)

Philip Shane (University of Colorado at Boulder)

D. Shores (University of Washington)