Jennie May Palen, Accountant and Poet, 1891–1990

The Writing Dimension of Accounting

Dale L. Flesher, PhD, CPA, and Gary John Previts, PhD, CPA, and Andrew D. Sharp, PhD, CPA

Female accountants were few in the early years of the profession in America, but there were pioneering women CPAs, and Jennie May Palen was one of them. As a principal with the international CPA firm of Haskins & Sells, Palen was for decades the highest ranking woman in any large CPA firm. Although she never went out on an audit, for many years, she either wrote or reviewed every audit report issued by the firm's New York office. Thus, she became noted as an accounting writer in addition to an accountant. Following her career in public accounting, Palen devoted her retirement years to writing, both on professional topics and poetry. Her impact is evidenced by the fact that she is the only woman among the 18 individuals included in Biographies of Notable Accountants (Academy of Accounting Historians, 1989).