Via Larry Crumbley, an accounting professor at Louisiana State University, I receive the following:

Greetings:

Relative to many peer organizations, the AAA nomination process is less than democratic. The Executive Committee is currently in the process of suggesting some amendments that may make AAA even more undemocratic.

The Nomination Committee for many years has suggested only one candidate for each position. The Nomination Committee is composed of three former Presidents, and the four independent members have to be nominated by the Executive Council.

In the spirit of democratizing the nomination process, I would like to suggest that the by-laws for the nomination process should be amended to read as follows:

IX. Nomination and Election Procedures

Insert after first sentence:

The slate shall include at least two names for each position.

[Other sections (e.g., TLC, FIA, ABO) have this more open and democratic process. If sections can handle two-person slates, surely the parent organization can do the same.]

VII. Standing Committees

3. Strike three in front of "most recent Presidents" and replace with two.

Strike "four" and insert "five" in front of "members."

[This change makes the election process more open and transparent.]

New sentence: Rank-and-file may nominate persons to the nomination committee.

[Nominations for this committee should not be limited to those coming solely from the Council meeting.]

We need at least 100 signatures to get the above changes for vote by the membership (clause XIV). If you are in favor of either or both of the above more democratic and open changes, please sign your name and affiliation below and return to me by mail, fax, or e-mail.

Larry Crumbley
Department of Accounting
Louisiana State University
3106A Patrick A Taylor
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
dcrumbl@lsu.edu

The American Accounting Association (AAA) is the largest society for accounting academics in the world.  So it's intriguing that their own governance processes are so arcane.

If you're a member of the AAA (and I'm afraid you have to be a member of the AAA to participate in Larry's petition), you can download, sign and return the petition from here.

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Filed under: Corporate governance with tags american accounting association, larry crumbley