 Rob Nance,Publisher |
By Rob Nance, Publisher - Arthur Blank, owner of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, claims that the most beneficial class he ever took was an accounting class at Babson College. He commented, “Greatest professor I ever had. Even made a dry topic have meaning.”
OK, it’s a bit of a slam against accounting, but Mr. Blank opened the door on great professors. I would very much like to read a bit about your favorite professor and why you rate that person so highly. We all owe our respective successes to mentors, professors and the like. Please post your comment--even if it’s only a couple of sentences.
My favorite professor? Dr. Darryl Wible at Ball State University. I had him for six classes right before he retired. He was also David Letterman’s favorite professor.
- 1217 reads
Gail Perry, CPA
My Favorite Professor: Dr. David Solomons
My favorite professor was Dr. David Solomons in 1982 at Penn. He taught Accounting Theory and instilled in me a great appreciation for the Conceptual Framework. I don't remember if he told us at the time, but his bio when he was inducted into the Accounting Hall of Fame said he the principal draftsman of the Wheat Committee report on formation of the FASB, as well as Concepts Statement No. 2, the Qualitative Characteristics of Accounting Information. (In fact I have some concerns about the movement today as FASB and the IASB update the conceptual framework, which to me appears to be placing more weight on the characteristic of relevance vs. reliability.) But more than what he wrote, he was a gentle teacher (I was very sorry to hear he passed away in the mid-90s) and an outstanding teacher. I shared his interest in the role of politics in standard setting and vice versa, although we actually had differing points of view, with Dr. Solomons being a staunch defender of neutrality, and my raising a number of questions on that topic in the term paper I wrote for his class which I still have today (written on a typewriter of course), on "Standard-Setting and Social Choice." It was a fascinating paper to write and he led me to many great resources on the subject, one which I have had a life-long interest in. For those interested in learning more about him, he wrote a number of books and articles, including the book, "Making Accounting Policy." I was so proud when I got my first job in Accounting Policy (at Bankers Trust, and then Chase Manhattan Bank) and I'd love to hear from any other former students of Dr. Solomons, you can email me at eorenstein@financialexecutives.org .