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The Quintessential Public Accountant: A Biography of David B. Pearson

John D. Keyser

Accounting Historians Journal2025https://doi.org/10.2308/aahj-2024-017article
AJG 2ABDC B
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0.50

Abstract

After earning his doctorate in 1964, David B. Pearson joined Arthur Young as a staff accountant, with plans to return to the academy after gaining a couple of years of experience. Instead, he remained in practice for the next 34 years where he built his firm’s education program, worked on technical audit matters, and led internal inspections and external peer reviews. During that same time, he was involved in professional activities including standards for continuing professional education, accreditation for accounting programs, the CPA exam, peer review, and more. After retirement from the firm in 1998, he returned to the academy as a professor. He also served as Staff Director for the Panel on Audit Effectiveness and oversaw the winding down of Arthur Andersen’s accounting and auditing professional practice group. Since 2003, he has served as a consultant to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s Division of Registration and Inspections. JEL Classifications: M4.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.2308/aahj-2024-017

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@article{john2025,
  title        = {{The Quintessential Public Accountant: A Biography of David B. Pearson}},
  author       = {John D. Keyser},
  journal      = {Accounting Historians Journal},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.2308/aahj-2024-017},
}

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The Quintessential Public Accountant: A Biography of David B. Pearson

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0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

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