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In Elmer Beamer's view, the underlying reason why so many Haskins & Sells partners have received the American Institute's Gold Medal Award for distinguished service to public accounting is the commitment of the Firm to professional excellence. This commitment has permitted a number of H&S men to devote their efforts to projects of benefit to the entire profession, with the encouragement and support of their partners. Mr. Beamer, partner in charge of the H&S office in Cleveland, and the late Weldon Powell are the seventh and eighth partners of H&S to receive the AICPA Gold Medal. The awards were made at the Institute's annual meeting in New York last September. "Weldon Powell and I concentrated on different fields of interest in our efforts to broaden and perfect the practice of accounting," Mr. Beamer said recently. "But the main thing we had in common was the support of the other partners in the Firm. They encouraged us to take part in activities aimed at advancing the profession as a whole, rather than ones limited to more traditional, narrowly defined services. "As an organization, H&S is dedicated to the interests of the entire profession. Without this orientation it would be difficult to commit the time required to complete the basic studies that have been undertaken on behalf of the Institute," he said. Mr. Powell was cited posthumously for his efforts in laying the groundwork for the formation of the Accounting DEDICATED "to the interests of the entire profession" Principles Board, and for his service as the Board's first chairman who guided it through its first three years of activity. The concept of the Board grew from a suggestion by AICPA President Alvin R. Jennings at the 1958 meeting. Mr. Powell headed a committee which was entrusted with conducting a study of the matter on the Institute's behalf. He worked for more than a year formulating suggestions that led to the creation of the Board. This effort was followed by a period, during Weldon Powell's term as Board chairman, in which he dedicated himself to the essential task of amassing research and compiling studies upon which the Accounting Principles Board could base its opinions. This commitment consumed vast amounts of Mr. Powell's time in assembling information in fields where no prior research work had been conducted. He carried it on in addition to his work in the development and improvement of the Firm's auditing procedures. John Queenan, managing partner of H&S from 1956 to 1970, retains warm memories of Mr. Powell, whom he first met as his undergraduate accounting instructor at the University of Illinois. Mr. Powell provided the inspiration for Mr. Queenan's career in public accounting back in the 1920s, and encouraged him to join H&S. According to Mr. Queenan, Weldon Powell was regarded by leaders of the accounting profession as "probably the outstanding accounting theoretician and thinker on accounting principles and policies." His invaluable intellectual contributions bridged several decades-only to be stopped by an automobile accident which took his life in 1965. "By 1956, Weldon was already recognized by the profession as one of the deepest thinkers in the area of accounting and auditing theory," Mr. Queenan said. "He had the unusual characteristic that he could translate theory into actual practice, and he did this as well as anyone I have ever known. He was always oriented to the practical application of accounting thinking. " While Mr. Powell devoted his life to the technical aspects of auditing procedures and the formulation of accounting principles, Elmer Beamer has concentrated his efforts in areas beyond the immediate discipline of the profession in order to broaden the horizon of accounting professionals. The AICPA's citation for his award singled out his efforts on behalf of "numerous research, education and development committees, culminating with his chairmanship of the Commission to Study the Common Body of Knowledge for CPAs." This study suggested that the "beginning CPA must have a conceptual grasp of accounting, its interdisciplinary aspects, the environment in which it functions, and of those bodies of knowledge which are ancillary to its central purpose." Therefore, in order to grow and mature in the practice of accounting, a professional must begin with a broad understanding of the concepts of ac- 2
Object Description
Title |
Dedicated "to the interests of the entire profession" |
Author |
Anonymous |
Contributor |
Stevens, Roy |
Subject |
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Gold Medal |
Personal Name |
Beamer, Elmer G. Powell, Weldon Queenan, John W. Carter, Arthur Hazelton Kracke, Edward Augustus McLaren, Norman Loyall Foye, Arthur Bevins Phillips, Jay A. |
Portrait |
Beamer, Elmer G. Powell, Weldon Queenan, John W. |
Citation |
H&S Reports, Vol. 08, (1971 winter), p. 02-03 |
Date-Issued | 1971 |
Source | Originally published by: Haskins & Sells |
Rights | Copyright and permission to republish held by: Deloitte; Photographs by Roy Stevens. |
Type | Text |
Format | PDF page image with corrected OCR scanned at 400 dpi |
Collection | Deloitte Digital Collection |
Digital Publisher | University of Mississippi Library. Accounting Collection |
Date-Digitally Created | 2010 |
Language | eng |
Identifier | HSReports_1971_Winter-p2-3 |