The Canadian Accounting Hall of Fame announces its 2024 inductees!

There are eight of them, six of whom are still with us. This is perhaps the most distinctive of the eight summarized bios:

• Harold Calla’s education and professional experience was the basis for decades-long work to educate and support First Nations build effective governance capacity in their communities that has measurably improved the well-being of indigenous peoples across Canada. A renowned leader and revered expert, Harold has actively contributed to the education and mentoring of incoming First Nation leaders. He has left an indelible mark by his creation of the First Nations Financial Management Board and by inspired leadership in working with parliamentarians to evolve primary vehicles to make First Nations gain direct access to capital markets through strong financial management and governance – one of the first steps to economic reconciliation.

The other seven inductees are I’m sure no less worthy, although in a more conventional vein (I worked a bit with one of them for a few years, but it didn’t go as I hoped…oh well, never mind). Of course, part of the fun of all such “hall of fame” type exercises lies in taking issue with who’s in and who’s out: the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for example absurdly excludes (off the top of my head) The Smiths, New York Dolls, Pixies, Kraftwerk, Devo, Paul Weller and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds while this year letting in, um…Foreigner (this does indeed make me want to know what love is). Still, I should tell you that I personally nominated someone to the Hall of Fame (the accounting one) this year, and that the nomination was rejected; I don’t want to embarrass the person here by saying who it is, but I know, and the Hall of Fame people know. Accordingly, I’m announcing here that I will be boycotting the Hall (the same one I described so lovingly in last year’s post) until the omission is rectified, and picketing the south entrance every second Saturday between 10 a.m. and noon. Of course, it’ll be a very polite picket – I won’t be throwing anything or yelling obscenities (well, not unless I spot one of the electors, but they probably all sleep in on weekends). You are all welcome to join me, but I’ll fully understand if you don’t.

It won’t be easy on me though, not being able to go inside the Hall, because I’ve grown used to whiling away the hours in the Ellen Fairclough cafe on level 2, especially since they added the caramel cookies and got rid of the mean-spirited server who insisted on calling me “Sonny.” And I’m conflicted about even carrying out such a modest protest at a time when the Hall needs all our support, given Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s recently-leaked plan to move our beloved institution out of downtown Toronto, to a new site adjacent to the Toronto Zoo. Ford claims that this would be a win-win, capitalizing on the natural overlap between love of animals and that of accountants, but many people – and not even just the cynics – think it’s more about selling off the current site (which it must be said, is pretty prime territory) for development (more luxury condos, they say, with a high-end spa at street level).

It’s posited that if the Hall were to make such a move, crowds would swell to take advantage of competitively priced two-for-one options, and I guess a few people might go for that, but it seems to me that the great majority of visitors would choose to see the accounting exhibits first, and even with the best will in the world they’d probably be exhausted after that. I mean, once you’ve spent the appropriate amount of time admiring Harry Schaefer’s deerstalker and Al Rosen’s diving equipment and Michael Gibbins’ collection of hand puppets and the hundreds of other attractions, you’re just not going to feel like staring at a camel. Other rumoured innovations, such as cross-pollinating naming initiatives (Janet Cosier’s Flamingo Heaven, gimme a break) seem to me to reek of desperation. Honestly, I don’t think it would be a happy marriage…

The Canadian Accounting Hall of Fame should clearly stay right where it is, and I imagine that if and when I resolve my current area of protest, I’ll have to start a whole other picketing initiative against the wicked Ford plan. But the fix may already be in. It can’t just be coincidence (can it…?) that one of this year’s inductees, the undoubtedly worthy accounting educator Jack Hanna, shares a name with “Jungle” Jack Hanna, the now-retired expert host of such shows as Jack Hanna’s Animal Adventures, who was a fixture on Letterman and many other shows. Plainly our minds are already being not-so-subtly coaxed into blurring the line between accounting and zoology. It’s enough to make you roar!

The opinions expressed, and the declarations of outrage, are solely those of the author.