Yuji Ijiri (Ph.D. 1963)

Yuji Ijiri was an internationally-renowned thought leader, an intellectual giant recognized for his accounting research and practice. The former R.M. Trueblood University Professor of Accounting and Economics, he was the founder of the transitional momentum accounting practice, also known as triple-entry accounting. Ijiri was a beloved and central figure at Carnegie Mellon University from the time he joined the faculty in 1967.

Born in Japan, he passed the CPA exam before receiving his college degree and completed all requirements for his certificate at 21, the youngest on record in Japan. He received his bachelor’s of law degree from Ritsumeikan University in 1953, then worked at a small firm and later Price Waterhouse before earning his master’s from the University of Minnesota in 1960.

He came to the Tepper School of Business to earn his Ph.D. in 1963 and spent four years at Stanford University before returning to join the CMU faculty, where he remained until his retirement in 2011.

Ijiri authored 200 papers and 25 books and was a founding member of the Journal of Accounting and Public Policy. He served as the American Accounting Association’s (AAA) president and consulted for a number of business and nonprofit organizations.

Among his honors, Ijiri was named the youngest inductee to the Accounting Hall of Fame in 1989 and was the only four-time winner of the American Accounting Association (AAA) Notable Contributions to Accounting Lecturer Award. An AAA memorial lecture, The Annual Yuji Ijiri Lecture on Foundations of Accounting, was founded in his honor by five international accounting associations.

He received the CMU Alumni Association’s 1996 Alumni Achievement (Merit) Award and the Tepper School’s 2010 Weil Prize for faculty research.

In 1990, the Yuji Ijiri Award for Excellence in Accounting was established to be awarded annually to a Tepper School MBA student.