AICPA® & CIMA® is delighted to announce Dr. Vernon J. Richardson as the recipient of the 2024 AICPA® Distinguished Achievement in Accounting Education Award. This award recognizes Dr. Richardson’s unwavering commitment to excellence and his efforts to inspire and promote academic role models who embody the highest teaching, research, and service standards.
The AICPA Distinguished Achievement in Accounting Education Award is a highly esteemed honor that emphasizes exceptional college accounting educators who have displayed innovative leadership and a lifelong dedication to learning in accounting education.
Award recipients are educators who have not only demonstrated outstanding teaching skills and achieved national prominence in their field but have also left an undeniable mark on the growth and development of the accounting profession through their research and shaping the future of accounting education.
Legacy of an accomplished accounting educator
Dr. Vernon J. Richardson is a dedicated teacher who is sculpting the minds of the next generation. He’s an accounting education expert, and he’s highly respected in his field. He has lectured to students from diverse cultural backgrounds, sharing his knowledge and expertise at institutions (such as China Europe International Business School and Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University) and contributing to the education of future leaders in the business and accounting fields.
He holds the prestigious W. Glezen Distinguished Chair of Accounting and is Distinguished Professor of Accounting at the University of Arkansas. He’s also a proud alum of Brigham Young University, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts, Master of Accountancy, and Master of Business Administration degrees.
Dr. Richardson, who went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for his Ph.D. in Accounting, currently imparts invaluable wisdom and shares his immense knowledge and experience with students at Baruch College as a visiting professor.
Editorial excellence and inspiring educator
Dr. Richardson is enthusiastic about transforming the accounting field with the power of data analytics. His dedication to this goal is evident in the six textbooks he has coauthored, all of which strongly emphasize the role of analytics in accounting.
He used this extensive knowledge as a consultant with AICPA in 2022, assisting with the pursuit of accounting recognition as a STEM field and academic subject by the U.S. government. According to Jan Taylor, AICPA Academic in Residence and Senior Director, “While we have not yet been successful in these efforts, Dr. Richardson’s work has laid the foundation for all STEM endeavors by AICPA. We are very hopeful that we will achieve success in 2025, both with Congressional and Department of Homeland Security recognition of accounting as a STEM subject and profession. This recognition is an initiative in the AICPA Pipeline Acceleration Plan, considered a pivotal piece of growing the CPA profession, and likely would have taken much longer without [Dr. Richardson’s] contributions.”
In addition to these activities, he has contributed his expertise as an associate editor for esteemed publications, including the International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, MIS Quarterly, and the Journal of Information Systems, building an impressive background as a leading expert in his field. Dr. Richard previously edited the Accounting Review. He now edits for Accounting Horizons, using his expertise to produce high-quality articles.
Dr. Richardson has an impressive record of scholarly publications in various reputable academic journals, with work featured in esteemed publications such as Contemporary Accounting Research, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Journal of Operations Management, and Journal of Marketing.
Furthermore, he has been recognized for his research contributions by being featured in journals such as the Journal of Information Systems, Accounting Review, Journal of Management Information Systems, and MIS Quarterly.
He enjoys teaching students at every level and strives to inspire and motivate them to become skilled and confident practitioners of accounting with a solid foundation in data analytics. Still, his wife and 12 kids are his biggest source of pride.
Honoring excellence in accounting education
Educators nominated for the AICPA Distinguished Achievement in Accounting Education Award are teaching full time or are recently retired within the past five years. They should have demonstrated excellence in teaching, contributed to curriculum development, advanced the accounting profession, and embodied the CPA Vision philosophy.
Further criteria for eligibility can be found here.