January 15, 1999

Delving into the human side of accounting

Killam award-winning professor Dr Michael Gibbins

Dr. Michael Gibbins is not your ordinary bean counter. The U of A accounting professor has camped by man-eating crocodiles in the Australian outback, climbed a volcano in New Zealand and will dip his toe in the Arctic Ocean later this year.

When he's not globe-trotting, the recent Killam Annual Professorship winner is either skiing or hiking in wild rose country or sitting in a theatre in the capital city. The rest of the time, Gibbins is studying the human side of accounting. He researches the judgment and decision-making process and how accountants think when preparing information.

"There is a lot of pressure involved," he said. "Accountants have to operate under a huge network of rules and regulations and it can be very tricky." Since there is a huge standards and rules superstructure, what makes his work interesting is finding out where the rules don't fit or make sense. "It's the job of the professional to know when to choose other than what the rules would say," he said.

Gibbins gathers his information about perceptions of risk and reward, motivational factors and memory processes through a range of methods which include straight statistical analysis, interviews and surveys. He has taken his research around the world as a visiting professor at the University of Illinois, Finland's Turku School of Economics, University of New South Wales in Australia and Holland's Tilburg University, to name a few. He's observed significant differences in international classrooms. For example, Gibbins found Australians to be more interested in theory and more thought-oriented while Americans are more career-oriented and focus on how much experience they can get under their belts.

As a student himself, the director of U of A's business PhD program and Winspear Professor of Professional Accounting once thought he would be an astronomer or biologist, not a number-cruncher. "My mother said to me she didn't want me to be an accountant, she wanted me to do something useful," he laughed.

And since he received his PhD from Cornell University in 1976, Gibbins has witnessed a change in the accounting industry. The vast impact of globalization and restructuring of organizations has made it more difficult and complex for a professional to exercise judgment, he said. "You used to be able to sit in an office and make a decision," said Gibbins, who has been at the U of A since 1984. "Now you have to consult with a whole planet full of people."

The advancement of electronic media has also played a role in the decision-making process as well as the risks an accountant might take. "Before if you made a bad decision you could just get into trouble but now if an auditor makes a mistake he can be sued for billions of dollars," he said. "It changes the way you look at problems and assess risk."

If Gibbins has his way, he'll be taking risks for years to come. His distinctive personality shines through in all aspects of his life. His office has a clock that runs backwards and one piece of a large frog collection kept at home. Fifteen years ago, the father of two started collecting frogs and beer bottles from around the world.

In fact, he had to build a room in the basement to house his 1,080 bottles, all of which were once full but have long since been emptied.

"I like a dark ale - the heavier and the darker, the better it is," said Gibbins, who lists "The Old Peculiar" from Yorkshire, England as his favorite. He offered to build an archway to his home out of beer bottles, but for some reason his wife Betty wouldn't hear of it. Next week the professor who fills his classroom with jokes is off to Atlanta to speak about his research. Then in the summer, he and Betty are off to the Yukon for a holiday.

Whoever said accountants are dull hasn't met Michael Gibbins.

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