Accounting Prof's Article, 'The Rise And Fall Of Enron,' Chosen By Encyclopaedia Britannica
"The Rise and Fall of Enron," an article written by Dr. C. William Thomas, professor of accounting at Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business, has been selected by Encyclopaedia Britannica for inclusion in its online version of Annals of America, a 22-volume collection of primary documents covering various subjects and perspectives in American history. Other recent additions to Annals include President Bush's address to the United Nations on the war in Iraq and Jimmy Carter's Nobel Peace Prize speech.
"We wanted to include a comment on the fall of the Enron Corporation, and of the articles we reviewed, we found this one to have a special clarity," said Theodore Pappas, executive editor of Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc.
"This is a very special honor for me," said Thomas, whose article was first published in the March 2002 issue of Today's CPA. "The Enron scandal hit close to home at Baylor, because Arthur Andersen, its auditor, was an important recruiter of our students. In addition, we held Enron in high esteem and were beginning to place our better students there. I took a personal interest in the scandal and found digging into events surrounding it both shocking and fascinating. Writing this article was one of the most interesting learning experiences of my career."
The Annals of American History is a useful tool for students. It spans 500 years of American history, with more than 1,500 authors, including Christopher Columbus, Benjamin Franklin and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Thomas' scholarly work focuses on fraud prevention and detection, as well as ethical issues among accountants in public practice. He serves as both the technical editor and the accounting and auditing editor of Today's CPA, the journal of the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants.
In 2003, Thomas was elected by the society as the Outstanding Educator in Texas. He has developed a nationally renowned Intensive CPA Examination Review Course, and regularly teaches the auditing and taxation components of that course to CPA candidates across Texas. Thomas also has served as an expert witness on several occasions in accounting malpractice cases. He is the author of a textbook in auditing, as well as many articles in auditing, financial accounting and reporting, taxation and accounting education.
Prior to becoming a professor, Thomas was an accountant with the firms of KPMG LLP, and BDO Seidman LLP. He is a member of the American Accounting Association, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants.