Ken Smith

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Ken Smith
Visiting Assistant Professor of Business

T. J. Day Hall 208

503-883-2272

ksmith14@linfield.edu

Kenneth “Ken” Smith, Ph.D., has worked in the accounting industry and higher education for more than 30 years. He currently serves as the managing partner of a growing tax and consulting practice in Central Oregon. In the 1990s he worked for CPA firms in the Sacramento region, including a firm specializing in litigation support.

Ken was president and co-founder of the Institute for Better Governance, past president of the Association of Government Accountants-Seattle Chapter and co-founder/chair of the Oregon Public Performance Improvement Association.

In 2012, Smith received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Government Accounting Research from the Association for Government Accountants. In 2015, he helped the Seattle chapter earn the AGA Platinum Award for chapter-wide excellence in advancing government accountability.

As a part of his community service, he was active in researching and consulting with public school districts and their financial management practices. He was elected to the Northshore School Board, the 10th largest district in the state of Washington, just north and east of the city of Seattle and served until 2017.

Education

• B.A., accounting, Anderson University
• M.B.A., Ball State University
• Ph.D., University of Missouri

Academic interests

His teaching and research focus on measuring the financial and non-financial performance of government and nonprofit organizations. He has long been interested in how organizations use information and communicate amongst one another.

Publications

You can read some of his published papers at the Social Science Research Network.