"[1][2][3] Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Vatter grew up as a talented musician, who played the viola, piano and French horn.
He wanted to become a symphony musician, but ended up as auditor, working for the Singer Corporation in the late 1920s.
In World War II he participated in the Manhattan Project, where he served as Director of Finance for the Metallurgy Laboratory from 1942 to 1944.
Back at the University of Chicago he was appointed Professor of Accounting in 1946.
[1] Vatter was elected Honorary Fellow of the Australian Society of Accountants, and obtained the American Accounting Association's Outstanding Educator Award and the Centennial Citation from UC Berkeley.