ODU's Bagranoff Elected President of American Accounting Association
Nancy Bagranoff, dean of Old Dominion University's College of Business and Public Administration, has been elected president of the American Accounting Association (AAA). Bagranoff will serve as president-elect for one year and become president in 2009.
The AAA, founded in 1916, is the professional association of US and international accounting faculty. The association has more than 8,000 members, most of whom are accounting academics. While it is the "American" Accounting Association, more than 2,000 of its members are international. Headquarters for the AAA are in Sarasota, Florida, and the organization publishes more than ten journals, including Accounting Horizons and The Accounting Review. The AAA has fifteen sections and six regions. In addition to the annual national meeting, the organization holds fifteen meetings each year and works with practicing accountants to provide input on public policies impacting the accounting profession.
The AAA's vision is to be the "thought-leader" in accounting, and as president, Dean Bagranoff will become a national spokesperson on accounting research and education. She will chair the organization's Executive Committee and Council, which includes a vice president of practice, typically a managing partner of a "Big Four" accounting firm.
She will preside over the AAA's annual meeting of more than 2,500 attendees and will be responsible for the meeting's technical program. She will also have the authority to appoint and/or remover members to various AAA committees. Bagranoff will travel to section and region meetings, and will also represent that American Accounting Association internationally as a liaison or representative to accounting education and organizations such as the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the International Association for Accounting Education and Research, and international organizations such as the European Accounting Association and the Canadian Accounting Association.
Bagranoff's election as AAA president brings international attention to ODU's College of Business and Public Administration. CBPA faculty members have expressed their pride in their dean's achievement and how it reflects on the CBPA as a whole.
"When Nancy becomes the President of the American Accounting Association, she will bestow upon Old Dominion University a level of achievement that will establish it in the field of accounting, as a university of distinction. A university that I will be proud to have served during my academic career," said Otto Martinson, professor and graduate program director of accounting.
Acknowledgement of the significance of Bagranoff's election to the AAA presidency extends beyond academia to the private sector, the very marketplace which benefits from the high-quality graduates from the CBPA.
"Nancy is an outstanding leader who is able to bridge the academic community and accounting profession," says Candy Duncan, Mid-Atlantic Area Managing Partner - Audit for KPMG. "Nancy takes over leadership of this organization at an exciting time for the industry and offers the right blend of skills to be a big success."
Bagranoff will officially assume the duties of president-elect at the AAA's annual meeting in August 2008, in Anaheim, California.