Professor John R Grinyer

John Grinyer is at present a part time research professor at the University of Dundee, in the U K. He was born in 1935 in London and was evacuated several times during the bombing of that city in the 1939-45 war, which disrupted his education. At the age of 15 he entered full time employment as a clerk with the London Electricity Board, when he started to study for secondary education qualifications using correspondence courses. Those studies were continued during the two years ( from 18 to 20 ) spent in the UK army meeting the 'national service' obligation that then existed.

On discharge from the army, John worked briefly for the Halifax Building Society as a clerk before starting a five year period under ' articles' in training for the qualification of Chartered Accountant with the Institute in England and Wales. Again he studied part time using correspondence courses and qualified in 1962. Following a further period working in firms of chartered accountants in the City of London, John started to work as a full time lecturer at Harlow Technical College in 1963, moving to the City of London Polytechnic in 1966.

During the period 1967-71 John studied part time at the London School of Economics. The first two years of that period were spent on selected topics of the BSc while the second two years covered the degree of MSc in Accounting and Finance, which was awarded in 1971. In that year John moved to lecture at the Cranfield School of Management, where he worked for five years until he moved to Dundee University in 1976. He was a professor of accountancy and business finance at Dundee until he retired from full time employment in 2000.

At Dundee John served as head of department for 14 years, Dean of the Faculty of Law and Accountancy for five years and Deputy Principal for almost three years. Despite these administrative loads, he maintained a continuing stream of contributions to the research literature, writing mainly in English language research journals on the subjects of theoretical aspects of financial reporting and of capital budgeting. During the period of 30 years to 2004 he wrote, singly or jointly with others, almost 50 refereed papers or research monographs. He has acted as referee for many British, American and Australian research journals and has served on editorial boards in all of those countries.

The peer recognition implicit in the presentation of the BAA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005 is valued by John. He regards his most important contribution to be his active participation in the growth of the Department of Accountancy and Business Finance at Dundee. When he arrived in 1976 it comprised four academics, including one Professor. It now has over 20 full time academics and during 2005/6 will have 6 full time professors - 3 of whom developed their impressive research records within the department after appointment as lecturers. Most of the academic staff are active in research and the department has developed a successful and collegiate research culture. Many of its past doctoral students are now successful researching academics in other UK and overseas universities. John considers that the record of steady development of the department over the last thirty years should be a source of satisfaction to all the people who contributed to it. His contributions to academic accounting have involved all of teaching, research and administration. He has enjoyed them all and has also valued highly the collegiate relationships that exist in UK academic accounting. These have been fostered by the BAA, which he was proud to have served as chairman for the years 1980-81 and 1990 and as representative of the Scottish Area on the executive committee from 1981 to 1993.

Since retirement from full time work, John has been able to spend more time with his wife, 3 children and 8 grandchildren. His family, academic research, golf and dinghy sailing combine to keep him fully occupied!