Abraham Jacob Briloff (July 19, 1917 - Dec. 12, 2013) was an American accounting scholar and Professor of accounting at

Baruch College Baruch College (officially the Bernard M. Baruch College) is a public college in New York City. It is a constituent college of the City University of New York system. Named for financier and statesman Bernard M. Baruch, the college operates und ...

in New York. He was known for his contributions to accountancy,Abraham Briloff, Accounting Professor, Dies at 96
The New York Times, December 15, 2013Abraham Jacob Briloff
The Accounting Hall of Fame. Accessed 2015-02-14. and also as the "most prominent accounting critic."

Biography

Born in Manhattan to Benjamin and Anna Briloff, Briloff obtained his BA in commerce at the City College School of Business and Civic Administration, now

, in 1937. Later in 1965 he obtained his PhD in accountancy and taxation at the

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...

with the thesis, entitled "The Effectiveness of Accounting Communication." Briloff began his career in the final days of the Great Depression as high school teacher, teaching bookkeeping and stenography, and as assistant accountant in the accountancy firm of Apfel & Englander. In 1944 he became partner in that firm, and in 1951 started his own accountancy firm. In 1944 he also started lecturing accounting at the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

, where he became a full-time faculty member in 1965. In 1976 he was appointed Emanuel Saxe Distinguished Professor of Accountancy.Abraham J. Briloff ('37, MSEd '41) Elected to Accounting Hall of Fame
at baruch.cuny.edu. June 5, 2014. Accessed 2015-02-14. He later started writing for the

Barron's Magazine ''Barron's'' is an American weekly magazine/newspaper published by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corp. Founded in 1921 by Clarence W. Barron (1855–1928) as a sister publication to ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''Barron's'' covers U.S ...

, a financial weekly. Briloff was inducted into the

Accounting Hall of Fame The Accounting Hall of Fame is an award "recognizing accountants who are making or have made a significant contribution to the advancement of accounting" since the beginning of the 20th century. Inductees are from both accounting academia and pract ...

in 2014. Their argument was, that "for over half a century, he was the conscience of the accounting profession, challenging it to raise standards and to meet its obligations to society. Always motivated by the best interests of the accounting profession, he was respected by both supporters and targets of his criticism."

Selected publications

* Briloff, Abraham J. ''Effectiveness of Accounting Communication.'' (1967). * Briloff, Abraham J. ''Unaccountable Accounting.'' Harpercollins, 1972. * Briloff, Abraham J. ''More Debits than Credits.'' Harper and Row, New York, NY (1976). * Briloff, Abraham J. ''The Truth about Corporate Accounting.'' Harpercollins, 1981. Articles, a selection: * Briloff, Abraham J. "Old myths and new realities in accountancy." ''

Accounting Review ''The Accounting Review'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Accounting Association (AAA) that covers accounting with a scope encompassing any accounting-related subject and any research methodology. ''The Accou ...

'' (1966): 484-495. * Briloff, Abraham J. "Accountancy and society a covenant desecrated." ''

Critical Perspectives on Accounting ''Critical Perspectives on Accounting'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Elsevier. The aim of the journal is to study how accounting works within society and to promote forms of accounting that are in the public interest. It was est ...

'' 1.1 (1990): 5-30. * Briloff, Abraham J. "Garbage in/garbage out: A critique of fraudulent financial reporting: 1987–1997 (the COSO report) and the SEC accounting regulatory process." ''Critical Perspectives on Accounting'' 12.2 (2001): 125-148.

References

External links

Abraham Briloff, Accounting Professor, Dies at 96
The New York Times, December 15, 2013
Abraham Jacob Briloff
The Accounting Hall of Fame {{DEFAULTSORT:Briloff, Abraham Jacob 1917 births 2013 deaths American accountants American business theorists Accounting academics Baruch College alumni New York University Stern School of Business alumni Baruch College faculty Educators from New York City