OXFORD,
Miss. – Annette Pridgen spent some 14 years auditing government
agencies before entering the doctoral program in accountancy at the
University of Mississippi. Her auditing background pricked her interest
in pursuing research in governmental financial reporting, which became
her dissertation subject.
Pridgen, who received her doctoral
degree last fall and was named assistant professor in the Patterson
School of Accountancy, recently received word that the American
Accounting Association chose her dissertation research for its
Government and Nonprofit Section’s Outstanding Dissertation Award.
The
cited research examines the Governmental Accounting Standards Board’s
Statement No. 34 titled Basic Financial Statements and Management’s
Discussion and Analysis for State and Local Governments. GASB is a
private, nonprofit organization responsible for establishing and
improving accounting and financial reporting standards for the more
than 84,000 governmental units in the U.S., not including the federal
government. Units include states, counties, cities and other local
governments, as well as any organizations under those governments’
jurisdictions, such as public power authorities, municipal hospitals
and state universities.
Governments are required to follow GASB standards in order to obtain
clean opinions from their auditors. The intended end result is to make
financial statements and other reports easier to understand and more
useful to legislators, members of oversight bodies and others who
provide resources to governments, as well as to people, including the
general public, who use governmental financial information to make
decisions.
Randal J. Elder, chair of the award’s selection committee, said that
GASB No. 34 dramatically changed government accounting. “We need more
research like Annette’s that addresses [the statement’s] effects on
governmental accounting, particular in the current economic
environment.”
A reviewer for the award concurred, stating that Pridgen’s research
“needed to be done,” as it contributes to other research on the
subject, as well as considers some additional variables.
“For your research to be recognized by your peers is always a great
honor,” Pridgen said. “Receiving this award is a highpoint of my
career.”
In 2007, Pridgen was awarded the Dittenhofer Dissertation Award, a national dissertation fellowship from the Academy for Government Accountability. The award included $12,000 to support her doctoral studies at Ole Miss.
A major player in Pridgen’s connection with the UM accountancy program is Associate Dean Dale Flesher.
“I have known Annette for many years through her activities as an officer with the Jackson Chapter of the Association of Government Accountants, and I knew what a fine person she is,” Flesher said. “Thus, I was excited when she applied to the doctoral program. We were so fortunate to be able to hire her for our faculty.
“Even when she was a doctoral student, we entrusted her to teach the governmental accounting courses, because we knew she was the best qualified person in that subject. The Outstanding Dissertation Award is a fitting conclusion to her student career.”
A graduate of Jackson State University with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting, Pridgen worked from 1986 until 2000 in the Office of the State Auditor of Mississippi, rising from intermediate auditor to manager. She then served for a year as an internal auditor in the Department of Human Services before joining the JSU accounting faculty. She entered the UM doctoral program in 2004. She is actively involved in the Association of Government Accountants, American Accounting Association’s Government and Nonprofit Section, and Mississippi Society of Certified Public Accountants.
For more information about the Patterson School of Accountancy, visit http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/accountancy/ .