People in H&S: Oscar S. Gellein

              "See what Oscar says. —Ask Oscar.—Let
Oscar take a look at it and ask him what
he thinks."
Oscar Gellein has been answering
questions, or helping other people solve
difficult accounting and auditing
problems, ever since he left the
university campus nineteen years ago
to start the research department in the
Haskins & Sells Executive Office. Ask
him to pin down for you exactly what
he does, and what his title is, and you
get a somewhat elusive answer:
"I have no exact title, really; I am just in
charge of our auditing and accounting
practice. That's the best way to describe
it. The closest thing to a title I can think
of is Director of Accounting and Auditing."
Oscar Gellein is a big man, whose wide-open
smile and friendly eyes radiate
cordiality. He is imposing in appearance,
with the broad brow and solid,
determined features that tell you he
knows what he is doing and where
he is going. His rimless glasses add a
touch of the scholar to the portrait.
But there is nothing reserved or austere
in his manner when he speaks, or when
he listens. The words are spoken with
economy and sincerity, and with
complete clarity of meaning. Oscar is
above all a communicator, who speaks
to you directly and personally. With it
all there is a touch of humor that is never
far below the surface.
Perhaps the secret of Oscar Gellein's
success in H&S stems not only from his
great abilities in the theoretical and
technical side of the practice, but also
from his many years of dealing with
other people as teacher and as student.
Everywhere along the road, from his
earliest years, he seems to have
welcomed taking on challenging new
tasks, both as learner and as instructor.
He probably could not stop either
function if he tried, and he probably
wouldn't want to.
As of this moment he is the EO partner
responsible for overall supervision of
the General Motors engagement; he
devotes a large part of his time to service
on the Accounting Principles Board; he
serves on the Trueblood Commission,
which is charged with determining long-range
objectives for the entire public
accounting profession; he is a member
of the H&S Policy Committee; and he
administers a number of EO sections
and departments that provide technical
services to the practice offices of the
Firm. Aside from that, he will find time
to speak before professional groups —
and has earned a reputation as one of
the best speakers in our Firm.
It is characteristic of Oscar Gellein
that when he is asked how he came to
accounting and to his present position
in the profession, he underplays his
dedication "You often come to your life's
work," he says of his own situation,
"because you happen to be in a certain
place at a certain time; you are a victim
of circumstance. That is true of most of
us, and it was that way with me." With
a bit of prompting, he tells you his story,
modestly leaving out the fact that a
determined, able person puts himself in
a certain place at a certain time because
he worked to get there.
Oscar's parents, who came to the United
States from Norway, lived in Denver for
two years after he was born, then in
San Diego, and when Oscar was eight
years old the family moved to a farm
in western Idaho, in the Snake River
country near the Oregon line. Oscar's
father had been a carpenter until that
time, but decided he wanted to own his
own land, and Idaho furnished the
opportunity. Oscar attended a one-room
school, eight grades with one teacher.
Twice at the start of a year the teacher
found young Oscar was the only pupil
in his grade, so she skipped him up a
grade so he could be taught with a group.
Result: Oscar had to hustle, and he was
barely sixteen when he finished
high school.
"I was pretty young..." he says, recalling
those days. "So I stayed out a year before
trying college and worked at all sorts of
things —riding the ditch, working on the
farm, haying, threshing and so on. Then I
went to the University of Idaho for one
semester, but dropped out and worked
for another year and a half, and looked
around for a school where I could earn
some money while taking courses. I
found one, Southeastern Oklahoma
State, at Durant, Oklahoma. I held
three jobs that kept me in school — I was
janitor in the evening, I worked in the
cafeteria for two meals a day, and I
worked in the bursar's office in the
Oscar S. Gellein
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