CAROL O. HOUSTON
Visiting Professor of Accounting
B.A., Pacific Lutheran University
M.B.A., Pacific Lutheran University
Ph.D., University of Washington

EML:  chouston@willamette.edu

As the “language of business,” I believe that accounting provides valuable insights and information about organizations.  Accounting provides vital indications of the health and prosperity of an organization to managers, investors, interested parties, and regulators.  Learning to interpret accounting information is vital for decision making.  To use accounting information effectively, it is also important to understand its limitations.  My goal is to aid students in learning not only how accounting information is created, but more importantly, how to interpret that information. 

Carol Houston joins the Atkinson Graduate School of Management after teaching at a number of institutions including Thunderbird, University of California at San Diego, and Pacific Lutheran University. She retired as an Emeritus Professor of Accountancy from San Diego State University in 2004. Her teaching awards include the American Institute of CPAs/American Accounting Association (AICPA/AAA) Collaboration Award for Innovative Teaching in 1998.  She has been selected for inclusion in Who’s Who in American Education, Who’s Who of American Women, Who’s Who in Finance and Business, Who’s Who in America, and Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers. 

Her research has been published in the Journal of the American Taxation Association, the Journal of International Financial Management and Accounting, Financial Management, the Journal of Accounting Literature, and the Journal of Accounting Education among others.

She worked in public accounting, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), and international banking in Europe and the U.S. prior to entering academics.  Since 2004, Carol Houston has worked extensively with nonprofit organizations in a variety of roles including Treasurer for two nonprofits, external reviewer of financial statements for a church, and an instructor for Taxaide.

Carol Houston teaches Financial Statement Analysis, Managerial Accounting, Accounting in the Global Economy, and Introduction to Financial and Managerial Accounting in the MBA for Professionals.