Gary John Previts
Gary John Previts (born 1942) an American accountant, is a Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio USA). From 1979 to June 30, 2023 he was Professor of Accountancy in the Weatherhead School of Management teaching undergraduate, masters, and doctoral courses. He is known for his work on the history of the theory and practice of accountancy. Biography Youth, education and military service Previts was born in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1939 his father, Julius A. Previts, received a master's degree from Teachers College, Columbia University and was a faculty member in the Cleveland Municipal School District. After obtaining his BA from John Carroll University, under the guidance of Professor of Accounting F.J. McGurr, in 1963, he obtained his MA in accounting at The Ohio State University in 1964. In 1972 under the guidance of Williard E. Stone, his received a PhD at the University of Florida. He held a CPA designation in Ohio and Alabama. In 2012 he acquired the Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) designation through the AICPA Pathway. Previts served in the US Army (1965–67) during the Vietnam War, where he was stationed in Thailand during 1967. Back in the States he worked at Haskins & Sells, now Deloitte, before continuing on to his doctoral studies. Career Following his military service he was a professor at Augusta College, Georgia [now Augusta University]. After completing his doctoral studies Previts accepted an appointment at University of Alabama in 1973. During the first year of his academic career, Previts was instrumental in generating interest in and in the formation of the Academy of Accounting Historians, devoted to the study of accounting history. He was first President of the Academy of Accounting Historians and a founding editor of the Accounting Historians Journal in 1974. He is currently a trustee and serves on the Editorial Review Board, beginning in 1993. Previts is also a member of the Editioral Review Board of the Journal of Accounting and Free Enterprise, starting this position 2014, and the editor of the Studies in the Development of Accounting Thought book series published by Emerald Press (UK). He has served for thirty years as the editor of Research in Accounting Regulation. Additionally, Previts was a guest editor for Abacus from 1988 to 2011. He also served as President of the American Accounting Association (2007–8). In 1979, Previts was appointed a Professor of Accountancy in the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University, where from 2007 to 2022 he held an appointment as the E. Mandell deWindt Professor. Previts was inducted into the Accounting Hall of Fame in 2011. In that same year he was given the title Distinguished University Professor at CWRU. In 2007 he received the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Gold Medal for Service and in 2018 the American Accounting Association (2007–8) awarded him a lifetime service award. Personal Previts is married to Frances Anne (Porubsky) a graduate of Notre Dame College, South Euclid, Ohio. She was a research associate