Gary John Previts

Gary John Previts (born 1942) is an American accountant, Professor of Leadership and Enterprise Development and Professor of Accountancy at the Weatherhead School of Management. He is known for his work on the history of the theory and practice of accountancy.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, where his father, a graduate from Teachers College, Columbia University worked as an educator. Previts obtained his BA from John Carroll University, under the guidance of Professor of Accounting Francis J. McGurr, in 1963. In 1964 he obtained his MA in accountancy at the Ohio State University, and in 1972 his PhD at the University of Florida.

Previts served in the US Army in the Vietnam War, where he was stationed in Thailand from 1965 to 1967. Back in the States he worked at Haskins & Sells, now Deloitte, before continuing his graduate study. After graduation Previts started his academic career 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 the founding editor of the Accounting Historians Journal in 1974. He is also the editor of Research in Accounting Regulation. In 1979, Previts joined the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University, where he was eventually appointed Professor of Leadership and Enterprise Development and Professor of Accountancy.

Previts' research interests focus on the "development of accounting thought and institutions... the corporate origins and ongoing events that have shaped contemporary accounting practices... [and on] the regulation of accounting disclosures." Previts was inducted into the Accounting Hall of Fame in 2011.

• Previts, Gary John. The Scope of CPA Services: A Study of the Development of the Concept of Independence and the Profession's Role in Society. Ronald Press, 1985.
• Magill, Harry T., and Gary John Previts. CPA professional responsibilities: An introduction. South-Western Pub, 1991.
• Coffman, Edward N., Rasoul H. Tondkar, and Gary John Previts. Historical perspectives of selected financial accounting topics. Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1993.
• Previts, Gary John, and Barbara D. Merino. History of Accountancy in the United States: The Cultural Significance of Accounting. Ohio State University Press, 1998.

Articles, a selection

• Previts, Gary John, Lee D. Parker, and Edward N. Coffman. "Accounting history: definition and relevance." Abacus 26.1 (1990): 1-16.
• Previts, Gary John, Lee D. Parker, and Edward N. Coffman. "An accounting historiography: subject matter and methodology." Abacus 26.2 (1990): 136-158.
• Previts, G. J., Bricker, R. J., Robinson, T. R., & Young, S. J. "A content analysis of sell-side financial analyst company reports." Accounting Horizons 8 (1994): 55-55.
• Previts, Gary John, and Robert Bricker. "Fact and Theory in Accounting History: Presentmindedness and Capital Market Research*." Contemporary Accounting Research 10.2 (1994): 625-641.