Joseph E. Sterrett

Joseph Edmund Sterrett (June 17, 1870 – March 22, 1934) was an American accountant, known as one of "accountancy's most active pioneers" and the 11th inductee into the Accounting Hall of Fame in 1953.

Born in Brockway, Pennsylvania to minister Ezekiel Sterrett and Martha Jane McCurdy Sterrett, Sterrett started working for a coal company in Beechtree, Pennsylvania at the age of 17, and moved into accountancy work. In 1899 he obtained his Certified Public Accountant license for the state of Pennsylvania.

At the age of 21 in 1891 Sterrett joined the public accountancy office of John W. Francis, where he became a partner in 1893. Their firm Francis & Sterrett merged into Price Waterhouse & Co. in 1907, whereby Sterrett became and remained senior partner. Sterrett was member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and served as its president from 1908 to 1910, its treasurer from 1919 to 1922, and its counsel member in 1916-18 and 1927-33. He was also one of the founding members of the Pennsylvania Institute of CPAs in 1897, where he also served in several functions.

Since the 1910s Sterrett was involved in public serves for the Federal Government, started with his participation in the Commission on Economy and Efficiency in 1911 and in the Excess profits tax during World War I. Merino (2014) summarized that "his work after World War I would bring him international recognition. In 1920 he set up the administration of the Repatriation Commission in France. In 1924 he was called back to Europe, where he spent two years as the American member of the Transfer Committee that managed reparation payments under the Dawes Plan. He received decorations from four countries, Belgium, France, Germany, and Italy, for his work on this committee."

In the 1922 article Ethics of Accountancy, Edward P. Moxey explained, that the subject of ethics for the accountant is one which has engaged the attention of the members of that profession for quite a number of years. In fact, the subject was one of those presented before the Congress of Accountants, meeting at St. Louis in September, 1904. Prior to that time, however, definite rules of professional conduct had been formulated by the accounting societies of England for their members. In this connection it is interesting to note that in the latter part of 1905 a bill was introduced into Parliament by the Government of Tasmania for the regulation of the profession of accountancy. This bill made mention specifically of certain actions on the part of accountants which were to be regarded as unprofessional, and the practice of which should render them liable to fine, suspension or expulsion.

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