PREFACE

The year 2001 witnessed a radical change in the strategic orientation of the Limperg Institute (li). It appeared that research into accountancy was being conducted to an ever-increasing degree by the university faculties themselves. The combined meeting of the Board of Directors and the Research Board concluded that there was no future for li as an independent player in the area of scientific research as originally intended in its bye-laws, namely to coordinate research by participating institutions and/or conduct research on its own initiative. The resulting strategic reorientation within the li led to the conclusion that it would no longer need to employ scientific researchers on its staff. This decision recently led to the transfer of the staff researchers to the university faculties that were supervising and conducting the ongoing research projects of the institute. li will continue as an independent foundation focusing on two new tasks. The first is to define, develop and organise high-quality training courses for persons wishing to become proficient at independent academic research in the fields of accounting and auditing. The second task is to ensure good interaction and collaboration between scientists and practitioners. To fulfil this task, li will organise various activities whereby practitioners can learn about scientific findings and scientists can be brought up to date on the problems and experiences of auditors in practice. Fulfilling these new tasks can be achieved by an organisation with a relatively modest budget and li has reached agreement on their financing with the Free University.   

In the year under review, the Board of Directors and the Research Board of the Institute concentrated on  mplementing the strategic reorientation and the reorganisation of the li administration. Given the enormous scope and far-reaching consequences, I am pleased to report that this was carried out with all the energy it deserved. As a result, the Board was able quickly to provide the desired clarity to those involved. On 1 June 2001, the Managing Director, Prof. Dr P.G.W. Jansen, resigned his position as Managing Director of the institute. The Board of Directors then requested the Deputy Managing Director at the time,  Mr F. Drieënhuizen ra, to act as his appointed successor. As a logical result of the decision mentioned above, the Research Board of the institute was dissolved at the end of 2001.

The Board of Directors would like to thank everyone who during the year under review – and the many years in the past – supported the research work of the institute by their efforts. The Board is convinced that, thanks to the reorganisation mentioned above, the institute is fully able to meet the new challenges. The Board looks forward to the future with confidence. This 2001 annual report marks the end of a series on the activities of the li in the area of scientific research in accountancy. Future annual reports will focus on the new tasks of the institute. Those interested in the final reports on current research projects of the institute are invited to read the reports produced by the various university faculties that are now supervising and conducting these ongoing research projects. These institutes are mentioned under the heading ‘Transition’ in the next chapters of this report.  

prof.dr. T.L.C.M. Groot

Chairman of the Board of Directors