The chief financial officer of KPMG LLP has resigned, becoming the latest top executive to leave the Big Four accounting firms, according to published reports citing company spokesman George Ledwith. Richard Rosenthal, who has held the CFO position since 2002 after two years as vice chairman for tax operations, is expected to remain with KPMG through the end of the year.
The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the announcement on Wednesday, said that KPMG partners learned of Rosenthal’s departure in an e-mail from chairman Gene O’Kelly on Monday night. The Journal added that the e-mail did not say why Rosenthal is leaving the company or whether he is going to a different job.
Keep in mind that the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Justice are reportedly investigating the accounting firm’s tax-shelter operations.
The paper noted that Rosenthal did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Rosenthal was said to be responsible for overseeing the marketing and development of some of KPMG’s most aggressive tax shelters. According to the Journal, his name was mentioned a number of times in a report last fall on KPMG’s tax-shelter operations written by Democratic Party staff members on the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.