Philip Brown is without peer in Australia, and is amongst the most respected accounting scholars in the world. His research with Ray Ball “An Empirical Evaluation of Accounting Income Numbers,” Journal of Accounting Research (1968), received the American Accounting Association's inaugural award for Seminal Contributions to the Accounting Literature. This research revolutionized our understanding of the impact of corporate disclosure on share prices, and of earnings releases in particular, and laid the foundation for much of the modern accounting literature.

The award stated that:

"No other paper has been cited as often or has played so important a role in the development of accounting research during the past thirty years."

He has received several distinguished awards and honours for his academic contributions, both nationally and internationally. They include:

• Election as Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 1979.
• Award of the American Accounting Association’s Seminal Contribution to Accounting Literature in 1986.
• Appointment as American Accounting Association’s Distinguished International Visiting Lecturer in 1991.
• Appointment as the Inaugural Coopers & Lybrand-Accounting Association of Australia and New Zealand Visiting Research Professor in Australasia (July 1991 – June 1992). 
• Award of the Inaugural Accounting Association of Australia and New Zealand’s Outstanding Contribution to the Accounting Research Literature Award in 1996.
• Appointment as Life Member, Accounting Association of Australia and New Zealand in 2000.
• Inducted into Australian Accounting Hall of Fame, 2010
• Made a Member (AM) of The Order of Australia for service to education in the disciplines of accounting and finance and to professional associations, Australia Day, 2012
• Awarded Honorary Doctor of Science from Lancaster University in July 2012 for his outstanding contribution to the field of accounting and service through the literature of accounting research.

His leadership roles at UWA and within the discipline have been outstanding.  One of his most notable contributions in the early years of his appointment at UWA is the development of the MBA program, which was first offered here in 1973, and one of the first such programs to be offered in Australia. He was appointed the Inaugural Director of the Australian Graduate School of Management in 1975, and was responsible for its early development as an internationally competitive MBA school that it is today.

After completing a five year term as Director, he returned to UWA as professor in 1980, and continued his leadership role here when he was appointed Head of the Department of Accounting and Finance from November 1980 to May 1981 and again from 1985 to 1990. 

In 1989 and 1990, he was Deputy Chair of the Mathews Committee of enquiry into accounting education in Australia’s universities, a major review of the discipline which resulted in significant changes to the way accounting programs are offered in Australia.  At UWA, for example, it led to a major review of the Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Economics course structures to what they are today.

He has been an excellent mentor to students and colleagues alike, and some of his students have gone on to become leading scholars and influential businessmen/women both here in Australia and overseas. He is actively involved in doctoral and faculty consortiums around the globe, to help early career researchers shape their research agenda.  These include his involvement at consortiums held at the meetings of the American Accounting Association, the British Accounting Association, the European Accounting Association and the Accounting Association of Australia and New Zealand.

Recipients:

• 2018: Fiona Roeslim
• 2017: James Bentley
• 2016: Benjamin Robinson
• 2015: Patrick Davis
• 2014: James Petchey
• 2013: Michael Kingsbury
• 2012: Wei Peng Seow (Jonathan)