David Flint was born in Glasgow in 1919, and attended the High School of Glasgow. He studied at the University of Glasgow from 1935-1939 and graduated Master of Arts in 1939 and Bachelor of Law in 1942 . Flint served as a Major in the Royal Corps of Signals during the Second World War, when he was mentioned in despatches.
He became a partner in the accountancy firm Mann Judd Gordon & Co, and lectured part-time at the University of Glasgow from 1950 to 1960. Flint was Johnstone Smith Professor of Accountancy from 1964 and was appointed to a new Chair of Accountancy in 1975, which he held for ten years. He was Dean of the Faculty of Law, 1971 to 1973, Vice-Principal from 1981 to 1985, and awarded the honorary degree DUniv in 2001.
Among many other offices, Flint held those of Chairman of the AUTA (now the British Accounting Association) in 1969; President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland, 1975 to 1976; membership of the Commission for Local Authority Accounts in Scotland, 1978 to 1980, and the presidency of the European Accounting Association from 1983 to 1984.
From the guide to the Papers of David Flint, 1919-, Professor of Accountancy and Vice-Principal, University of Glasgow, Scotland, 1967-1981, (Glasgow University Archive Services)
