Roy Bernard Kester (September 11, 1882 - October 21, 1965) was an American accountant, and Professor of accounting at the

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. He is known as a prolific author in the field of accounting.

Biography

Born in

Cameron, Missouri Cameron is a city in Clinton, DeKalb and Caldwell counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. The population was 8,513 at the 2020 census. The Clinton and Caldwell counties portion of Cameron are part of the Kansas City, MO– KS Metropolitan ...

to Julius B. and Jessie M. Corn Kester, Kester attended Cameron High School, and obtained his BA in economics in 1902 at Missouri Wesleyan College. About a decade later he obtained another BA from the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univ ...

, in 1911. He continued his studies at

, where he obtained his MA in 1912 and his PhD in 1919. In between, in 1914, he obtained his CPA license for the State of Colorado. Kester had started his academic career at the Missouri Wesleyan College in 1902, and from 1907 he was also lecturer at East Denver High School and subsequently at the

. In 1915 he moved to

in New York City, where he worked his way up from Assistant Professor in 1919, to Associate Professor in 1920, and to Full Professor in 1922. He served until his retirement in 1948. Among his PhD students was Henry Whitcomb Sweeney (1898-1967).A. N. Mosich.
Henry Whitcomb Sweeney
" in: ''

Accounting Historians Journal The ''Accounting Historians Journal'' is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Academy of Accounting Historians. It is abstracted and indexed in Scopus Scopus is Elsevier's abstract and citation database launched in 2004. ...

,'' Vol. 1, Nr. 1-4. p. 25-26 From 1911 on, Kester also was working as a practising public accountant, and had joined the New York accountancy firm Boyce, Hughes and Farrell in 1917. Kester was elected vice president of the

American Accounting Association The American Accounting Association (AAA) promotes accounting education, research and practice. Founded in 1916 as the American Association of University Instructors in Accounting, its present name was adopted in 1936. The Association is a volun ...

from 1922 to 1925, and served as its president during 1925. From 1925 to 1928 he served at the National Academy of Arbitrators as director of research in cost and management accounting, as successor of Professor Gould Harris of New York. M. Chatfield & R. Vangermeersch (eds.) ''History of Accounting: An International Encyclopedia: An International Encyclopedia.'' (2014). p. 335 In 1941 Kester was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by

Baker University Baker University is a private university in Baldwin City, Kansas. Founded in 1858, it was the first four-year university in Kansas and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Baker University is made up of four schools. The College of Ar ...

. He 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 1957.

Selected publications

* Kester, Roy Bernard. ''Accounting theory and practice. Vol. 2.'' The Ronald Press Company, 1918. * Kester, Roy Bernard. ''Depreciation.'' No. 28. Ronald Press Company, 1924. * Kester, Roy Bernard. ''Advanced accounting, with practice problems.'' (1946).

References

External links

Roy Bernard Kester
The Accounting Hall of Fame {{DEFAULTSORT:Kester, Roy Bernard 1882 births 1965 deaths American accountants American business theorists Accounting academics University of Denver alumni Columbia University alumni People from Cameron, Missouri