Walton College Professor to Be Awarded Outstanding Accounting Educator

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Vernon Richardson will be awarded the 2024 Outstanding Accounting Educator Award by the American Accounting Association in Washington, D.C.

The American Accounting Association has named Vernon Richardson one of its esteemed 2024 Outstanding Accounting Educator awardees. Richardson is a longtime professor of accounting and the Glezen Chair in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the U of A. He holds a doctorate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in addition to a Master of Accounting and Master of Business Administration from Brigham Young University. Fueled by a dedication to transforming the accounting curriculum through the help of data analytics, he has co-authored six McGraw-Hill textbooks.

The Outstanding Accounting Educator Award recognizes educators who have contributed significantly to accounting education or other accounting educators. The award acknowledges individuals who have made substantial contributions to educational innovation, teaching excellence, impactful publications, research guidance, student mentorship and service to the academic community and the accounting profession.

This August, Richardson will receive his award, along with a $5,000 prize and a matching donation to be used according to his wishes, in Washington, D.C. The award is sponsored by the American Accounting Association and the PwC US Group LLP.

When asked about receiving this accolade, he showed his love for helping students more easily understand accounting. Richardson said, "It's an honor to be recognized for my lifetime commitment to students. Adding a small portion to their unlimited potential is what we all try to do in academe."

Widely known and respected in the academic field, Richardson's research has been published in leading journals such as The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Contemporary Accounting Research, MIS Quarterly, Journal of Information Systems, Journal of Operations Management and Journal of Marketing. He currently serves as an editor at Accounting Horizons.

Outside of his career, Richardson is a devoted family man who most enjoys spending time with his wife, 12 children and seven grandchildren. He was happy to share that a new addition will soon be his to spoil as a grandfather. 

About the Sam M. Walton College of Business: Founded in 1926, the Sam M. Walton College of Business is AACSB-accredited and ranks among the top business schools in the nation. Walton College is the largest college at the University of Arkansas, serving nearly 9,000 undergraduate, master's and doctoral students. Walton College is recognized among U.S. News & World Report's 2023 "Best Business Schools," and its undergraduate supply chain management program was ranked No. 1 in North America by Gartner. The college's Master of Business Administration program was also ranked No. 11 for best return on investment by The Wall Street Journal. The Princeton Review ranked the college's graduate entrepreneurship program as one of the top in the country for the first time in the 2022-23 year. And in partnership with the Global Campus, the U of A's online business degree program ranked No. 12 nationally among 214 institutions by U.S. News in 2023.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas' economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research and Economic Development News.

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