Accounting Hall of Fame 2000 Induction: Ross M. Skinner

August 14, 2000 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Remarks, Citation, and Response ROSS M. SKINNER REMARKS by Robert T. Rutherford, FCA The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants It is indeed an immense honour for me to be here today, to have been given the opportunity to recognize the outstanding contribution of Ross Skinner to the accounting world and our community and to be amongst such an august body. Even today, I'm sure Ross does not realize the significant impact he has had on the accounting profession and the business community. His first major accounting book "Accounting Principles: A Canadian Viewpoint", published in 1972, was highly influential in shaping accounting frameworks land providing substantial guidance to accountants, lawyers, educators and judges. Many legal cases were resolved on the strength of insight found in this publication. The book has been republished over the years and just recently the latest edition "Accounting Standards in Evolution" has been published with co-author Dr. Alex Milburn. The book continues to contain important insights into the need for accounting, starting with a look back into history right up to the present day. All of these things may not have happened, because the accounting profession almost lost Ross several times. Once, while riding on a friend's motorcycle, Ross got into a bit of an accident and nearly went over a hill into the St. Lawrence River. On another occasion Ross, who was looking for new challenges, was offered a position with the Ontario Jockey Club. On the other hand, a partnership with Clarkson Gordon (now Ernst & Young) was also offered. So horseracing went on to have Northern Dancer and Clarkson Gordon got Ross. Which seems only fair. After all, why should the Ontario Jockey Club gain two bright stars in one decade? So here we are today paying tribute to the accounting star, who is accompanied by his wife, partner and best friend, Helen, and other supporters from Canada. It now gives me great pleasure to read the citation prepared by Dan Jensen. CITATION prepared by Daniel L. Jensen The Ohio State University read by Robert T. Rutherford The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants The scholarly approach of this distinguished Canadian accountant, brought new solutions to problems of both accounting and auditing. Born in 1923 in Saskatoon of parents who immigrated from Scotland, he was the son of a Presbyterian minister and a mother who valued education and took a firm hand in securing the best schooling for her son. The family moved to Oneonta, New York shortly after his birth but returned to Toronto four years later where he spent the remainder of his youth. At University of Toronto Schools, to which he gained entry by highly competitive examination, he was one of the top students in his class and also took a keen interest in sports. He developed a life-long involvement in tennis and, despite weighing less than 100 pounds, he played goalie on both Toronto Hockey League and UTS hockey teams. Following graduation from UTS in 1940, he applied for admission to the University of Toronto. After seven days of scholarship examinations, he won highest marks in Greek and Latin and a University College scholarship for general proficiency. Knowing that he wanted to pursue a business career, he enrolled in the Commerce and Finance Honours Course at the University of Toronto. At that time, the business curriculum was under the Department of Political Economy and fully half of the C&F subjects were shared with students in political science and economics. Although he found the economics courses very satisfying, he later noted "the accounting and auditing courses were trivial and the statistics course mechanical rather than insightful. The most practically useful courses to my later career proved to be actuarial science, particularly the theory of interest, and commercial law. …