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November / December 2011
Volume 23, Number 6

News you can use

County Auditors Mourn Passing of Long-Time Mentor, LBJ School Professor

Lynn Anderson, one of the giants in the governmental finance profession, died in Austin on Sept. 3, 2011. Anderson had celebrated his 90th birthday the day before he died at his home. He had been in ill health for some time.

For more than 50 years until his retirement in 1997, Professor Anderson’s governmental finance knowledge and teaching informed and inspired hundreds of state and local officials as well as graduate students at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. Anderson was best known to Texas county officials as the architect of numerous conferences and seminars, particularly for county auditors, property tax and purchasing officials. Some of those training sessions are still being conducted by the LBJ School of Public Affairs.

Anderson received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The University of Texas, the latter in 1942. He went into the U. S. Navy immediately after his graduate work, served in the South Pacific as an ensign in the Navy and was discharged in 1946.

Later in 1946, he began his career at Texas with the Bureau of Municipal Research, later called the Institute of Public Affairs.

In 1970, the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs was established and within that structure, an Office of Conferences and Training; Anderson was appointed to head that office and served in that capacity until he took modified status in 1987. During that time, Anderson, one of the original members of the LBJ School faculty, also taught public finance and related courses to LBJ School students.

Anderson was the lead author of the 1968 edition of Governmental Accounting, Auditing and Financial Reporting (GAAFR). County Auditors Mourn Passing of Long- Time Mentor, LBJ School Professor That volume, published by the NCGA, established what at the time were generally accepted accounting and reporting standards for state and local governments. Although the standards had to be approved by the NCGA as a whole, Anderson, along with a University colleague, conducted the underlying research, prepared original and revised drafts for the Committee’s review, and served as the key advisor to the Committee. This book has been revised several times since 1958 but it still stands as the foundation of modern municipal accounting.

His professional and civic work have been honored with a number of professional awards. In 1982, he received the first Award for Excellence in Career Development in Municipal Finance by the Municipal Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (now the Governmental Finance Officers Association) and in 1987, he received the Stephen B. Sweeney Academic Award from the International City/County Management Association.

When Anderson retired in 1997, his colleagues, former students and friends honored him by establishing a fund for the Lynn F. Anderson Professorship in Public Finance at the LBJ School. The fund continues to accept contributions and is one of the places suggested by the family for memorial gifts. For any interested, the check should be made payable to The University of Texas and mailed to Carolyn Garber, Director of Development, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas, P. O. Box Y , Austin, TX 78713-8925.

Anderson is survived by his wife of 67 years, two sons, four grandchildren and one great grandson.