After her first two years of college, financial pressures caused Sally Widener to put her formal education on hold. She took an hourly job at a 7-Eleven to earn some needed cash. Two rapid promotions later, Widener was a certified store manager responsible for hiring, purchasing, inventory, scheduling, presenting financial results to executives, and managing a large team. One of her most trusted employees was a shift supervisor. Widener could depend on him for just about every task. Until she learned he was stealing from the store.
Sally K. Widener is Associate Professor of Accounting at Rice. She holds a PhD in Business Administration from the University of Colorado at Boulder, a Master of Science in Accounting from Colorado State University, and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Houston. She serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Management Accounting Research and Behavioral Research in Accounting, among others. She is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Internal Auditor, and served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Women MBAs.
“I took that very personally; it went way beyond a work experience,” said Widener. “I was very young at the time, 20, and I had to confront and fire him. That experience never left me.”
Control Issues by Ann S. Boor
business.rice.edu
What makes people tick
and what makes organizations click keeps things interesting for Dr. Sally Widener
Although she didn’t realize it at the time, that experience also served to teach Widener an important lesson about management controls. “If you’re in an industry where there is little congruence between the goals of the employees and the goals of the organization, you’re going to place great stress on the management and internal control systems.”