UA’s Houston to Chair ABO Section of American Accounting Association

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Dr. Rich Houston, professor of accounting in the Culverhouse School of Accountancy at The University of Alabama, has been elected chair of the Accounting, Behavior and Organizations section of the American Accounting Association.

The ABO section was founded in 1981 and has more than 1,300 members. It publishes the academic journal Behavioral Research in Accounting, and it sponsors a research conference each October. Its mission includes supporting research that studies the interface between behavioral and organizational sciences and accounting and promoting behavioral accounting education activities.

Houston has been an active member of the ABO section during most of his career. After receiving the ABO Outstanding Dissertation Award in1996, he served on the selection committee for the award in 1999 and 2000 and chaired the committee in 2001 and 2002.

He also served as Southeast Regional Chairman of the ABO Section from 1998-2000 and 2002-2003. He was coordinator of the 2004 ABO Research Conference in Chicago, Ill. after serving as assistant coordinator of the 2003 ABO Research Conference in Denver. Currently, Houston serves as the 2007 Annual Meeting Coordinator for the ABO Section; he served as Vice-Coordinator for the 2006 Annual Meeting. Finally, Houston has been an ad hoc reviewer for Behavioral Research in Accounting for over 10 years.

He will serve as chair-elect during the 2007-08 academic year, chair for the 2008-09 academic year, and immediate past chair for the 2009-10 academic year.

Houston is a graduate of Washington and Lee University and Indiana University. He is director of the Masters of Accountancy Program and is the James Nabors Instructional Excellence Faculty Fellow.

His articles and commentaries have appeared in The Accounting Review, Contemporary Accounting Research, Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory, the Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Accounting and Business Research, Accounting Horizons, the Journal of Accounting Literature, Internal Auditor, The International Journal of Auditing, Behavioral Research in Accounting, and Issues in Accounting Education.

The Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration was established in 1919, and in 1929, it became the 38th school to earn admission into the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business. The excellence of the UA business school has been acknowledged on a national level.

The undergraduate program is ranked 38th among public universities By U.S. News and Culverhouse School of Accountancy is ranked 15th among public universities by U.S. News. The graduate accounting program is ranked 15th and the undergraduate program 14th by Public Accounting Report.