RETROSPECTIVE: ANDREW BARR: LONGEST SERVING SEC CHIEF ACCOUNTANT

Andrew Barr, born in Urbana, Illinois, in 1901, was one of the earliest professional accounting executives to develop a career with the federal government. He died on November 29, 1995 at his Urbana home. Barr worked for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from 1938 to 1972-the last 16 years as chief accountant.1 This tenure made him the longest serving chief accountant to date. After living at the University Club in Washington, DC, for over 40 years, he returned after retirement to Urbana, a city where several generations of the Barr family had lived and worked as brick manufacturers [Barr, 1992]. In his later years, Andrew Barr was a respected senior statesman in accounting circles because of his role in shaping SEC policy and because he had served as government accounting's informal ambassador to the rest of the accounting profession. He began his SEC career as a research accountant investigating the McKesson & Robbins case, and went on to deal with many of the most fractious issues facing the accounting profession in the United States. Through his job and through his involvement with the Association of Government Accountants (AGA) (formerly known as the Federal Government Accountants Association), Barr became active in many aspects of the accounting profession. His contributions have been acknowledged with several awards including the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service (the highest honor the federal government can bestow on a career employee) (1960), AGA's Distinguished Leadership Award in 1961, the AICPA's Gold Medal Award in 1964, and AGA's Robert W. King Memorial Award in 1968. Also, the AGA annually gives the Andrew Barr Award to a distinguished contributor to government accounting from the private sector. Barr was also inducted into the Accounting Hall of Fame at Ohio State University in 1963 and was a life member of the Academy of Accounting Historians (one of only ten at the time of his death). George Washington University and the University of Illinois honored Barr with honorary doctorates [Barr, 1992]. THE EARLY YEARS After growing up in Urbana, Barr attended the University of Illinois, where he received both bachelors (1923) and masters (1924) degrees. He passed the CPA exam in 1924 and joined the Chicago CPA firm of Reckitt, Benington, and LeClear as a staff accountant. His Illinois professor Hiram T. Scovill was instrumental in assuring the young Barr that he would learn more by going with a small firm than if he joined a national CPA firm. Following two years in public accounting, Barr decided to enter the academic field as he joined the accounting faculty at Yale University. He spent 12 years at Yale (1926-1938) where he became acquainted with such individuals as Ralph C. Jones, William Werntz, and William O. Douglas. Barr decided to enter government service because he valued the opportunity to serve at a time when the country was attempting to restore itself from the devastating depression. Barr saw the chance to get in on the ground floor at the SEC. He initially earned about the same salary at the SEC as he earned at Yale. Although much of Barr's life was devoted to accounting, he had at least one other avocation-military history-which stemmed from his service in World War II. Barr had been a member of the Reserve Officer Training Corp (ROTC) at the University of Illinois. When called to duty in February 1941, he entered as a cavalry major, but was soon promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. He was the official historian for the 3rd Armored Division for World War II and authored the volume entitled Spearhead in the West-The Third Armored Division. He was discharged as a colonel in 1946, but continued as a member of the Army Reserve until 1961. Barr's role in the military (G-2, intelligence) was related to his work with the SEC. His Army unit executive officer thought Barr's experience on the McKesson & Robbins investigation was good training for an intelligence officer. …