IIA Co-founder Victor Brink to Be Inducted into Hall of Fame

American Accounting Association will honor Brink as a pioneer in modern internal auditing

LAKE MARY, Fla. (Feb. 17, 2020) — The American Accounting Association, which represents the largest community of accountants in academia, announced that the late Victor Z. Brink, co-founder and a former president of The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), will be inducted posthumously into the Accounting Hall of Fame.

Brink, who died in 1992, is credited with development of The IIA in 1941 along with John B. Thurston, Robert B. Milne and others. Brink’s “Internal Auditing,” the first major and widely accepted textbook on internal auditing, was based on his doctoral dissertation published earlier the same year. He played a number of roles with The IIA over his career, including as international president in 1950-51, chairman of the International Planning Committee, Director of Research, chairman of the Committee on Relations with Other Organizations, and chairman of the International Executive Committee.

“The IIA – indeed, modern internal auditing – might not exist if not for the commitment and foresight of Victor Brink,” said current IIA President and CEO Richard F. Chambers. “Internal auditing was just beginning to establish itself, and two major events – Victor’s book and his determined efforts with others to form our organization – marked a major turning point for the internal audit profession. It is a distinct honor for The IIA to see Victor inducted into the AAA’s Hall of Fame.”

Over his career, Brink, CIA, CPA, PhD, held a number of executive positions in internal auditing, including as general auditor for Ford Motor Co. He authored more than a dozen books on internal auditing and at least 180 articles in professional journals. He also was professor emeritus at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business.

In 1977, The IIA published a history of the organization, “Foundations for Unlimited Horizons: The Institute of Internal Auditors, 1941-1976,” authored by Brink. He was among the first recipients, posthumously, of The IIA’s American Hall of Distinguished Practitioners award in 2012 and received one of The IIA’s most prestigious honors, the Bradford Cadmus Memorial Award, in 1967.

The IIA established the Victor Z. Brink Award for Distinguished Service, recognizing outstanding service to the internal audit profession. He taught at several schools, including the University of Nebraska, Dartmouth College, and Columbia University.

The Accounting Hall of Fame, established at The Ohio State University in 1950, also will induct into the Hall of Fame: Robert Mednick, a former chairman of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants; Leslie French Seidman, an independent director for General Electric and Moody’s; Shyam Sunder, the James L. Frank Professor of Accounting, Economics, and Finance at the Yale School of Management; and Doyle Zane Williams, a dean emeritus of the University of Arkansas. In a statement, Bruce Behn, a past president of AAA who chairs The Accounting Hall of Fame Committee, said this year’s inductees “represent a diverse group of accounting thought leaders from a breadth of practice and educational backgrounds.”

The induction ceremony is scheduled for August. For bios on all the inductees, please see the AAA news release.