To honor the memory of Dr. Curt Verschoor, a longtime member of IMA’s Committee on Ethics (CoE) and editor of the Strategic Finance Ethics column for 20 years, Strategic Finance and the CoE have inaugurated a new award: the Curt Verschoor Ethics Feature of the Year. This year’s winner is “The Value of Trust,” authored by Amanda S. Marcy, Douglas M. Boyle, James F. Boyle, and Daniel P. Mahoney. The feature appears in the March 2020 issue of Strategic Finance.

The Curt Verschoor Ethics Feature of the Year aims to highlight a work that contributes to a greater understanding of ethics within the business environment for management accounting and finance professionals, whether through new research, insightful analysis of a real-world event or scenario, or practical solutions to the ethical challenges of the day.

Deborah Michalowski, CPA, chair of the CoE, remarked, “Our entire committee was greatly saddened by the passing of Curt last January. Curt was our chair-emeritus, affectionately and respectfully referred to as our ‘Mr. Ethics.’ As a lasting legacy, our committee wanted to honor Curt’s contributions in some way and that led us to create this award.

“We are thrilled with the contributions we received and are delighted that the one selected this year reflects the spirit and integrity of Curt’s contributions not only to Strategic Finance but also to the more than 250 journal articles and columns he penned throughout his distinguished career. Here’s to you, Curt. You are gone but your spirit and contributions will never, ever be forgotten.” 

In addition to his involvement on the CoE and his contributions to Strategic Finance, Curt was a significant contributor to the development and revisions of the IMA Statement of Ethical Professional Practice. Curt was a passionate, renowned thought leader on ethics in accounting, having earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from Trust Across America—Trust Around the World for his leadership in and advocacy for trustworthy business practices.

Call for Submissions

Members – practitioners and academics alike – are encouraged to submit articles for consideration for next year’s competition. Entries must follow the manuscript guidelines for Strategic Finance (bit.ly/2SqrcKE), including:

• Length should be approximately 2,500 to 3,000 words.
• It must be written in English and submitted in completed form for publication.
• The manuscript must not have been previously published and isn’t available to other publishers.

The deadline for entries is September 1, 2020. All entries will complete a double-blind review process for initial evaluation, followed by the final selection of the winner by the IMA Committee on Ethics in December 2020. The winning entry will be published in the March 2021 issue of Strategic Finance.

Submissions should be sent to sfmag@imanet.org. Please use the subject line “Curt Verschoor Ethics Feature” and include a completed submission form (available at bit.ly/2SqrcKE).

Questions regarding the competition can be sent to sfmag@imanet.org.