Reflections on research 1944-2009.

• Position: Calendar

1930s

1931

Articles of Incorporation are recorded in Washington, D.C. for the Controllers Institute of America.

1936

Past President Daniel J. Hennessy proposes establishment of a research body, such as a separate foundation; renews proposal in 1940.

1940s

1944

The Controllership Foundation is chartered as a legal entity in the State of New York.

1946

Board of Trustees approves plans for initial study, An Inquiry into the Degree of Acceptance by the Public of the Facts and Figures of Business Accounting, to be conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation in NJ.

1947

The Controllership Foundation releases a second study, Whose Corporations Are They? prepared by The Psychological Corporation.

1948

The Foundation broadens its research focus to include such subjects as Controller-ship in Modern Management (1949); Providing Facts and Figures for Collective Bargaining (1950); and Defense Mobilization: What Management Is Doing (1951).

1950s

1950

The Foundation releases paperback digests excerpted from business books. One digest, Automation, was among the first publications to examine the potential impact of computers on the finance function.

1951

The American Trade Association Executives present their Award of Merit to the Controllership Foundation for its "comprehensive campaign to further the arts and sciences in controllership for the ultimate benefit of business."

1954

The Foundation publishes Centralization vs. Decentralization in Organizing the Controller's Department, an early study that defines the role of the finance function. Co-authors include Nobel Laureate Herbert A. Simon.

1958

The Controllers Institute Board of Directors approves a recommendation that the Controller Foundation's name be changed to Controllers Institute Research Foundation.

1959

A Research Foundation publication, Business Experience with Electronic Computers, a study of 17 member firms by Price, Waterhouse & Co., received national media attention.

1960s

1960

A digest of Business Experience with Electronic Computers is presented at a session of the Asian and Pacific Accounting Convention in Australia.

1962

By a majority vote of the membership, the Controllers Institute of America changes its name to Financial Executives Institute; the Foundation becomes Financial Executives Research Foundation.

1965

FERF publishes a major study, Divisional Performance: Measurement and Control, by David Solomons, a classic in financial management literature that is still in reprint...