From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS, MAILING_LIST_MULTI,T_SCC_BODY_TEXT_LINE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (minnie.tuhs.org [IPv6:2600:3c01:e000:146::1]) by inbox.vuxu.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D9C9022E1A for ; Sat, 10 Feb 2024 07:48:30 +0100 (CET) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D2585426A7; Sat, 10 Feb 2024 16:48:22 +1000 (AEST) Received: from lists.tip.net.au (pasta.tip.net.au [IPv6:2401:fc00:0:129::2]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id BA97642686 for ; Sat, 10 Feb 2024 16:48:10 +1000 (AEST) Received: from smtpclient.apple (unknown [203.7.112.5]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mailhost.tip.net.au (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 4TX1WW1BHPz9R4n; Sat, 10 Feb 2024 17:48:06 +1100 (AEDT) From: steve jenkin Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Mime-Version: 1.0 (Mac OS X Mail 16.0 \(3774.300.61.1.2\)) Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2024 17:47:53 +1100 To: TUHS Message-Id: X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.3774.300.61.1.2) Message-ID-Hash: MQLRQYRAZTASRC6LK7MYIT2MP7JN7KXM X-Message-ID-Hash: MQLRQYRAZTASRC6LK7MYIT2MP7JN7KXM X-MailFrom: sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: dmarc-mitigation; no-senders; approved; emergency; loop; banned-address; member-moderation; nonmember-moderation; administrivia; implicit-dest; max-recipients; max-size; news-moderation; no-subject; digests; suspicious-header CC: Ian Johnstone X-Mailman-Version: 3.3.6b1 Precedence: list Subject: [TUHS] Role of Unix in Australian Accounting research: Ball & Brown, founding AGSM List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list Archived-At: List-Archive: List-Help: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: Accidentally ran into this today. I=E2=80=99ve never seen this put together and thought it worth adding to = the TUHS archives. Hadn=E2=80=99t realised that both the authors of =E2=80=9CBall & = Brown=E2=80=9D (1968) were Aussies and UNSW alumni. Studying a little accounting, this paper was mentioned as =E2=80=99the = most cited=E2=80=99 paper in the field. The Big New Idea in 1968 was to use computers to analyse stock market = data & show correlations. I hadn=E2=80=99t known either had come back to Australia (QLD or WA then = UNSW/AGSM), then founded AGSM, with a focus on digital analysis of data. Ian Johnstone, from CSE, went to AGSM to run their computers. He recommended DEC + Unix and was backed by Brown, the director. [ Andy Hume was recruited by Ian J, before leaving for a job at = Bell Labs in the Computing Research Centre. ] The AGSM license caused conniptions with the AT&T lawyers. While AGSM fell into the near free =E2=80=9CUniversity & Education=E2=80=9D= license, they weren=E2=80=99t using Unix just for =E2=80=98education=E2=80= =99. AGSM became the first commercial licensee of Unix, or so I was told at = the time. Ian Johnstone was AUUGN editor while at AGSM, before scooting off to the = USA and rising to heights there. While Ball & Brown studied in Faculty of Commerce, they obviously had = enough of a grounding in =E2=80=98computing=E2=80=99 and data collection / handling / analysis = to set the stage for their 1968 paper. In 1971, Fortran IV was taught to first year students in Science, using = John M Blatt=E2=80=99s (of UNSW) textbook. It=E2=80=99s not unreasonable that Finance & Accounting had courses or = training in Computing 5 years before that. Within 10 years, they were both back at UNSW, running AGSM, teaching & = using Digital research methods, based solidly on Unix=E2=80=A6 cheers steve =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Looking back, I realise it must have been a fortuitous convergence for = me: thanks to Philip Brown and Ian Johnstone, the AGSM had been = running Unix machines since 1976; thanks to Bob Wood, I read of Bob Axelrod's work with GAs in = examining the Repeated Prisoner's Dilemma before it was published=20 (and Axelrod was also at Michigan);=20 thanks to my innate curiosity, I had been reading and = contributing to the Usenet news groups on the Internet since 1986.=20 Sydney was not so far from Ann Arbor, finally. =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Phillip Brown = = Philip Brown holds an important and unique place within the annals of = Australian accounting.=20 As co-author of the research paper that redefined the course of academic = accounting research in the last forty years=20 he inadvertently set the research agendas and directions for a legion of = academics that followed. Philip started school at Riverstone in western Sydney with a short stint = at Summer Hill in his final two years of primary education=20 proceeding to Canterbury Boys High School where he scored an average = pass in his Leaving Certificate.=20 He then worked as a junior clerk in the accounting department of British = Motor Corporation at Zetland.=20 Advised to seek tertiary qualifications he thought he should enrol for a = commerce degree at the University of NSW.=20 Despite this advice, Philip enrolled as a part-time student in the = Faculty of Commerce at University of New South Wales gaining the highest = pass in the course.=20 This level of achievement was maintained throughout his degree leading = inevitably to an honours year,=20 graduating with First Class Honours and taking a University Medal. After graduation Philip tutored at University of New South Wales,=20 received a Fulbright Scholarship to study in the USA heading to the = University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.=20 He completed his MBA in 1963 finishing top of the class During this period [2 years after MBS] he met Ray Ball with whom he = wrote a seminal paper that defined the course of accounting research for = the next forty years. Rather than pursue a career in the United States, Philip returned to = Australia as a Reader in Accounting at the University of Western = Australia (July, 1968 =E2=80=93 June, 1970). In 1974, Philip moved to Sydney to help establish the Australian = Graduate School of Management (AGSM).=20 As inaugural Foundation Director he introduced world-class MBA and MPA = (public administration) programs=20 to develop the skills of Australia's future leaders. During his AGSM days Philip championed the development of Australian = data in financial accounting research.=20 He saw the need for Australian share price data to be systematically = collected and made available to researchers=20 spending a great deal of time personally collecting data and providing = programming support for these databases.=20 The existence of these databases as a high quality resource for = researchers is often taken for granted today=20 but it was the foresight scholars with foresight like Philip who saw the = need and acted accordingly. =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Ray Ball = Raymond John Ball is one of the most influential contemporary accounting = scholars,=20 having held professorial positions in Australia at UNSW and Queensland,=20= and in the United States at Rochester and Chicago.=20 With a first-class honours degree and the University Medal from UNSW,=20 Ray moved to the University of Chicago where he earned an MBA and PhD. In 1968 Ray Ball co-authored the seminal paper=20 =E2=80=98An Empirical Evaluation of Accounting Income Numbers=E2=80= =99=20 that revolutionised financial accounting research. Drawing on the developing financial economics literature and linking = accounting information and share prices in a novel manner,=20 the paper provided the foundation for modern capital markets-based = research.=20 As the inaugural recipient of the American Accounting Association=E2=80=99= s Seminal Contributions to the Accounting Literature Award in 1986 it was observed that=20 =E2=80=98no other paper =E2=80=A6 has played so important a role = in the development of accounting research during the past thirty = years=E2=80=99. It remains the most highly cited accounting research paper. Ray Ball has also had a major influence on accounting education in = Australia, h aving been Professor of Accounting at the University of = Queensland (1972-1976),=20 and foundation professor at the Australian Graduate School of = Management (UNSW) (1976-1986),=20 where he was instrumental in the development of the first US-style PhD = program in Accounting and Finance in Australia.=20 During his time at Queensland and UNSW he was instrumental in developing = rigorous empirical research in Australian capital markets,=20 addressing issues such as the risk/return trade-off, dividend policy and = taxation mechanisms. =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D -- Steve Jenkin, IT Systems and Design=20 0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915) PO Box 38, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA mailto:sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au http://members.tip.net.au/~sjenkin