The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board appointed 11 new members to its Standing Advisory Group for the 2009-2010 term and made three reappointments for additional two-year terms. The 14 new and reappointed members, selected from 80 nominations received by the board, will join the 20 current members when the fresh board convenes in January.
Joining the body are Douglas J. Anderson, Dow Chemical Co.’s corporate auditor; James D. Cox, a Duke University law professor; Sharon S. Fierstein, partner with the New York accounting firm of Marks Paneth & Shron LLP; Gail L. Hanson, deputy executive director for the State of Wisconsin Investment Board; Bernard K. Jarvis, vice president for finance and administration and CFO of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies; Jamie S. Miller, vice president, controller, and chief accounting officer for General Electric Co.; Steven B. Rafferty, a partner with BKD LLP, Springfield, Mo.; James V. Schnurr, deputy managing partner for Deloitte & Touche; R. Harold Schroeder, director of relative value arbitrage for Carlson Capital; Paul J. Sobel, vice president, internal audit for Mirant Corp.; and Thomas Tefft, vice president, corporate controller for Medtronic Inc.
Among the new advisory-group members named by the PCAOB, which oversees U.S. auditors, Fierstein, Hanson, and Jarvis were identified as having previously been corporate CFOs.
Reappointed members are David M. Becker, a partner with the law firm of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP; Samuel J. Ranzilla, audit partner and national managing partner, audit quality and professional practice for KPMG; and Lynn E. Turner, board member and senior advisor for the forensic accounting firm of Kroll Inc. Becker is a specialist in Securities and Exchange Commission and other investigations. Ranzilla serves as KPMG’s liaison with standard-setters and professional organizations. Turner, a former SEC chief accountant, also served as a member of the Treasury Department’s Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession in 2007-2008. He also serves as a member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s Investor Technical Advisory Committee.
There is no agenda yet for next year’s two tentatively-scheduled meetings, April 1-2 and Oct. 14-15, but the advisory group will be chaired by the PCAOB’s chief auditor and director of professional standards, Thomas Ray.
When the advisory group met last month, its discussions included the impact of the financial crisis on the auditing profession. It concluded that among the greatest worries was increased pressure for fraudulent behavior at companies.