How Did ACUA Begin?

Publication Date: May 14, 2024

The Association of College and University Auditor’s currently serves over 500 institutions of higher education in the United States, Canada, and abroad. Our members include schools of all sizes: from community colleges to large university systems, both public and private. Membership has grown tremendously over the past 76 years, when thirteen charter universities decided to share their professional knowledge with each other. ACUA Historian Toni Stephens explains how it all began:

On February 24, 1958, Fred Vorsanger from Purdue and Stanley Smith from the University of Illinois circulated the idea of forming a group to meet and discuss mutual audit issues to the other Big Ten schools of the time. The idea quickly spread, and the inaugural meeting of ACUA was held at the LaSalle Hotel in Chicago on Monday April 7, 1958. Lasting from 9:00am until 3:00pm, the meeting focused on reviews of internal audit reports in different areas of operation. Smith would become the first ACUA President.
Eleven people from the following eight Big Ten schools attended.

• University of Illinois
• University of Indiana
• University of Michigan
• Michigan State University
• University of Minnesota
• Northwestern University
• Ohio State University
• Purdue University

Though they did not attend the first meeting, the following schools became part of the thirteen charter members of ACUA:

• University of Chicago
• Iowa State University of Science and Technology
• University of Notre Dame
• Southern Illinois University
• University of Wisconsin

Shortly after the initial meetings, ACUA reached out to additional universities to join the group. In the last issue of the C&U Journal, the historian was looking for the oldest university membership certificate. No certificates from the original thirteen charter universities have been identified. The University of Mississippi still lays claim to displaying the oldest membership certificate from when they joined on September 10, 1959, just one year after the ACUA’s formation. Congratulations Ole Miss!