Australian Dictionary of Biography

Reg Gynther, October 1967

© The University of Queensland. Courtesy of the Queensland University Archives

Reginald Sydney Gynther (1921–1999), professor of accountancy, was born on 24 September 1921 at Nundah, Brisbane, son of Queensland-born parents Sydney Gynther, carpenter and later builder, and his wife Emma Louisa, née Carlson. Reg attended Nundah State School (1927–34) and (from 1935) the State Commercial High School in the city, leaving aged sixteen to work as a clerk in the Department of Agriculture and Stock. He studied in the evenings, qualifying as an associate in accountancy of the University of Queensland (AAUQ) in 1941.

Following the outbreak of World War II, Gynther began full-time duty on 4 February 1942 in the Australian Army Pay Corps, Citizen Military Forces (Australian Imperial Force from August 1944). He worked in the District Accounts Office, Brisbane, and rose through the ranks to lieutenant (January 1944), before being transferred in May to the District Accounts Office, Sydney. At St Anne’s Church of England, Strathfield, on 17 July 1945, he married Violet McClung, a public servant; they were to divorce in 1950. Transferring to the Reserve of Officers on 22 May 1946, he continued his studies at the Sydney Technical College and lectured to evening classes there, while employed as the accountant for Gardner Wearne & Co. Pty Ltd.

In 1951 Gynther returned to Brisbane as Queensland accountant for Norton Tootill & Co. Pty Ltd. From 1953 he was secretary and assistant manager of the Queensland division of Claude Neon Industries Ltd, and a part-time teacher of subjects in the AAUQ course. He also studied at the University of Queensland (BCom, 1961) and became prominent in professional organisations, notably the Australasian Institute of Cost Accountants (president, Queensland division, 1963–64), enjoying debates with colleagues over theory. In 1958 the university established a senior lectureship in accountancy within the department of economics and he applied successfully for the position though he had not yet completed his degree, taking up the appointment on 1 January 1959. In 1961 a separate department of accountancy (commerce from 1972) was created, with him as its first head. On 8 May 1954 at the Ann Street Presbyterian Church, Brisbane, he had married Margaret Ferris, a bank officer.

With a clear vision for the development of accountancy education, Gynther strove to convince elements in the university and the profession that the field was a legitimate tertiary discipline. The university regarded the subject, with its large number of students, simply as a source of revenue, while many in the profession preferred the old apprenticeship system and were reluctant to employ graduates. He worked tirelessly to attract good staff and make them feel part of the community of scholars, while building a research program, an honours school, and a postgraduate program. By 1967 he had added to his academic qualifications a master’s degree in economics from the University of Adelaide (1963) and a doctorate in business administration from the University of Washington (1966); published two highly regarded books and many journal articles; and become a strong voice for accountancy in the university and the business community.

Gynther was an internationally recognised normative (prescriptive) accounting theorist, but on leave in the United States of America in 1965 and 1966 he had seen that the academic discipline there was entering a period of revolutionary change, based on the development of positive (empirical) accounting theory (PAT) in financial reporting and standards. Although these changes went against his training and experience, he welcomed them and implemented them in the department ahead of his peers in other Australian universities.

In 1967, against strong opposition from traditional disciplines, the university established a chair of accountancy and Gynther was appointed to it, thirteen years after the first such appointment in Australia. Over the next decade he built his department into one of the leading accounting schools in Australia. A key moment was his audacious recruitment of 26-year-old Ray Ball, co-author of a seminal paper on PAT, as the department’s second professor in 1971. Gynther later recalled that Ball’s recruitment was ‘the best day’s work I ever did as an academic’ (1999). The initiative was central to the long-term success of the department.

Resigning his chair in January 1977 with the title of emeritus professor, Gynther joined the accounting firm Coopers & Lybrand as a partner and director of research. He relished the escape from university politics and the opportunity to devote himself to his long-time research interest in current cost accounting. The profession’s attempt in the 1970s to ‘reach an accepted accounting standard on the question of current cost accounting [was] in the twilight zone between academia and practicality’ (Falkus 1993, 142). With Coopers & Lybrand, Gynther took a leading part in this debate, and was identified as one of three Australians respected internationally for their contributions. As a member (1977–83) of the Australian (Current Cost from 1978) Accounting Standards Committee of the Australian Accounting Research Foundation, he was a significant contributor to its work, which included preparing Current Cost Accounting: Working Guide (1978, revised edition 1984). He retired in 1985.

Although conservative in dress, habits, and outlook on life, Gynther was remarkably open to new ideas. His receptiveness to the revolution in academic accounting in America changed the course of its teaching at the University of Queensland and influenced the field throughout Australia. Self-disciplined and relentlessly hard-working, he led by example. His successful career owed much to his wife Margaret’s ‘untiring support, assistance, love and companionship’ (Gynther, pers. comm.); her practical help included typing and editing his thesis, proofreading his publications, and entertaining his colleagues. Reading was among his recreations and he was a keen sportsman, having played grade cricket when younger, and being a highly competitive tennis player until late in life. He died on 27 November 1999 at Auchenflower, Brisbane, and was cremated. His wife and their daughter, Susan, and two sons, Bruce and Ian, survived him.