Career moves

The Financial Accounting Standards Board appointed Judith H. O’Dell, CPA, as chair of the standard-setter’s newly formed Private Company Financial Reporting Committee.

Gerry Golub, who helped build Goldstein Golub Kessler LLP into one of New York’s most high-profile and progressive firms, announced that he will retire after a 44-year career in public accounting -- the last 25 spent as managing partner of GGK.

The former chairman and chief executive of CNA Insurance Cos. has been named chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council.

The Internal Revenue Service modified a $103 million contract for the management of paper tax returns in November, according to a published report.According to the Washington Post, the original plan to turn over the filing, storage and retrieval activities at seven IRS centers to a contractor Dec. 1 was altered so that, for now, the outsourcing will occur at just two centers. In a statement, the IRS said the conversion was scaled back "to ensure that a sufficient number of employees with the required training and security clearances are in place to manage the files during the upcoming filing season."

Scott Taub, the longest serving of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s deputy chief accountants, will leave the commission later this year.Taub, 38, had served as acting chief accountant for nine months beginning in late 2005 until Conrad Hewitt started in the position in mid-August. Prior to serving as a deputy, Taub spent most of career with Arthur Andersen and as a professional accounting fellow in the Office of the Chief Accountant between 1999 and 2001. He returned to the office in September 2002.

National CPA and business advisory firm RSM McGladrey named Joe McSpadden as senior vice president of marketing and sales.

CPA Dennis Scott was elected to a second term as president of the National Conference of CPA Practitioners during the organization’s 28th annual conference, held in Philadelphia in mid-October.New members of the Board of Directors for 2006-07 were also announced during the conference.

KPMG LLP has realigned its most senior private-equity partners to form the U.S. Private Equity Group. The dedicated practice will collect the firm’s extensive experience to serve the largest funds in the rapidly growing private-equity market.KPMG named Donald C. Spitzer as national managing partner for the new group.

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Mark Everson announced the of two new deputy commissioners, in personnel moves effective Dec. 1.Kevin Brown, currently the commissioner of the IRS Small Business and Self-Employed Division, will become deputy commissioner for Services and Enforcement, responsible for overseeing the agency’s four operating divisions, Criminal Investigation and the Office of Professional Responsibility.

The continuing business boom has generated a demand for accountants in every sphere that will make seasonal staffing during tax time more difficult than ever, say industry observers."If you're looking for tax people, they're not easy to get, and whoever you do get will be a lot more expensive," said Mike Hurley, vice president of tax for Tampa, Fla.-based Kforce Inc. "Either employees have a good deal where they're at, or they're burned out. Those that have good tax people are making sure they can hold on to them, while others are just getting out of the game. It's hard to find experienced tax people."

In response to a senator’s inquiry, the Government Accountability Office will review the operations of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement division and compliance department.

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac has hired a former health care finance executive to help heal the self-inflicted wounds of a multi-billion dollar accounting scandal.The chief financial officer of Health Net Inc., Anthony "Buddy" Piszel, will take on the same role at Freddie Mac in November. Piszel will replace Martin Baumann, who oversaw Freddie Mac's $5 billion earnings restatement before leaving the government-chartered company in March. Baumann recently began a new position with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

Microsoft has ended its search for a new leader for its Microsoft Business Solutions unit, naming insider Satya Nadella to succeed senior vice president Doug Burgum as head of the division that oversees Microsoft Dynamics and small business products.Burgum will stay on during a transition period of about nine months.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board announced that chief administrative officer Paul Schneider and public affairs director Christi Harlan will leave the board this month. Schneider joined the PCAOB in January 2003 as interim chief administrative officer, taking responsibility for a variety of start-up related activities. He was named chief administrative officer four months later. PCAOB Chairman Mark Olson said Schneider was instrumental in leading the selection of key personnel to head the board’s administrative offices, including information technology, finance, human resources and facilities management, as well as managing the budget and design aspects of the board’s benefit plans. Before joining the board, Schneider was the managing principal of Vector Recovery Group LLC, a turnaround management firm that provided restructuring and crisis management services. He has not announced his future plans. Harlan joined the board in April 2003, and said in a statement that she would be leaving to seek a new venture in public service. Harlan came to the PCAOB from the Securities and Exchange Commission, where she served as public affairs director from January 2002 until April 2003. Prior to her SEC service, Harlan was director of external affairs at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and communications director for the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.

Turn the clock back some 50 years, and you'll find that there were only 750 female CPAs. Fast-forward to 1972, and that total had increased to 2,000.Last year, the American Institute of CPAs had 106,000 female members, and in public accounting, the number of female CPAs with membership in the institute was roughly 41,000.

Edward W. Trott, a member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, said that he would step down from that position in June 2007, after eight years on the board of the standard-setter.Trott had accepted a second five-year term in July 2004, but at that time had advised the trustees of the Financial Accounting Foundation - the body responsible for the oversight, administration and finances of both FASB and its counterpart for state and local government, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board - that in 2006 he would re-evaluate his ability to complete that term. The foundation is also responsible for selecting the members of both the FASB and GASB boards. FASB's board is currently comprised of seven members.

Sage Software announced the promotion of Karl Grass to senior vice president and general manager of its Specialized Business Solutions unit. In his new role, Grass will assume a leadership role for Sage Abra HRMS, Sage FAS Fixed Assets, Sage Payroll Services and Sage TimeSheet, as well as additional products.Grass, who was named to Accounting Today's 2004 Top 100 Most Influential People list, will report to Jim Foster, Sage's executive vice president and general manager for Mid-Market Business Units.

RGL Forensic Accountants, a 21-partner firm specializing in damage analysis, fraud investigation and valuation, named Paul M. Brunner as chief executive.

PricewaterhouseCoopers announced the launch of a United States-based valuation practice offering a full range of valuation services. The Big Four firm has organized its valuation services into two teams. Offerings from the Transaction Services Accounting and Valuation Advisory practice are aimed at helping companies meet financial reporting and tax valuation requirements, especially those related to mergers and acquisitions. The practice will be lead by New York partner John Glynn, a former professional accounting fellow at the Securities and Exchange Commission and PwC's representative to the Appraisal Issues Task Force. Meanwhile, Chicago-based partner Mark Haller will head the firm's Business Analytics team that will offer applied valuation analysis and advisory services to help companies make business decisions. Haller is already the leader of PwC's Economics and Strategy practice. Both teams will operate with a goal of providing quantitative support to help clients makes decisions on issues such as new market entry and competitive threats, dispute resolution, changing and emerging business models, internal investment choices, product pricing, product rationalization and extension, and customer value assessment. The service was specifically created with non-audit clients in mind. PwC said that with the U.S. launch, it is capable of delivering valuation services worldwide through a team of more than 1,550 valuation professionals.

The Internal Revenue Service announced the selection of directors for its Government Entities and Employee Plans departments, as well as a new chief information officer. Michael Julianelle will take over as the director of Government Entities in mid-November, while Joseph H. Grant will serve as the director of Employee Plans beginning Oct. 1. Both organizations are part of the IRS’s Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division. As of Sept. 17, Richard A. Spires has taken over as the agency’s new chief information officer. Julianelle replaces Preston R. Butcher, who will retire at yearend but remain in the broader TE/GE division to work on special projects until then. Julianelle will oversee the operations of the three Government Entities offices -- Federal, State and Local Governments, Indian Tribal Governments and Tax Exempt Bonds. Julianelle has been director of EP examinations since 2004. Before that, he served as the international area director in the IRS’s Small Business/Self-Employed Division. Grant replaces Carol Gold, the employee plans director since November 1999, who has accepted a teaching position with the Federal Executive Institute in Charlottesville, Va. The division is responsible for administering the law affecting more than one million public and private retirement plans that have almost $12 trillion under management. Grant joined the IRS in August 2005, as of director of the EP rulings & agreements division. Before that, he was chief operating officer and a deputy executive director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. Spires, a private-sector information technology executive -- with software vendor Mantas Inc. and SRA International -- before joining the IRS in early 2004, will be responsible for virtually all aspects of the IRS’ information technology systems, including its mission-critical modernization program. Spires has had responsibility for more than 400 electronic systems within the IRS that support tax administration, as well as oversight of the projects within the Business Systems Modernization Program.