The top people in public accounting — 2021

December 2, 2021 9:00 AM

Each year as part of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting list, Accounting Today asks candidates for the list to name who they think are the most influential people in the field, and here they are, ranked by the number of votes they received from the 140 candidates.

The top 13 are listed below; the full list of the Top 100 is available here.

No. 13: Joe Biden

Al Drago/Bloomberg

The U.S. president was mentioned frequently for his administration’s stewardship of tax policy and regulatory initiatives in the coming year.

No. 10: Gary Gensler (tie)

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

As the Securities and Exchange Commission is poised to announce new requirements and guidance on key sustainability issues, Gensler’s agenda, which also included appointing new members of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and continuing to meet the evolving needs of investors, will advance these monumental changes.

No. 10: Randy Johnston (tie)

Johnston’s peers repeatedly highlight the K2 Enterprises CEO’s passion when discussing the nearly 40 years he has spent as the “go-to resource” for educating the profession on technology trends, with one calling him “the most creative and substantial consultant in the technology area … And the number of people he’s helped/helping in our profession is staggering.”

No. 10: Jennifer Wilson (tie)

It’s not just Wilson’s tireless work within firms to help them “make transformational changes to their leadership, culture and strategy” that has made her so influential, especially as so many adopted the flexible work models she’s been promoting for years, it’s also the fact that, as another contender put it, “Her direct advice is what more firms need to hear.”

No. 8: Ron Baker (tie)

One common characteristic among those singled out by their most influential peers is consistently rallying for a particular cause — and for Baker, that has been “fighting the good fight against hourly billing and in favor of value pricing,” according to one of his fellow influencers. His “relentless” work has made such an impression that, as another Top 100 candidate said, “Without Ron’s constant drumbeat on the [importance] of the shift to value pricing for firms, and the move away from hourly billing, we’d not see the traction occurring today, especially working its way up into the Top 100 Firms.”

No. 8: Jim Bourke (tie)

Innovation in the accounting profession is often driven by outside vendors and industries, but Bourke is a prime example of transformation from within, as a practitioner and thought leader who has “spearheaded Withum’s changes toward a major cybersecurity and consulting niche practice, [who] willingly shares how he did this with scores of accounting organizations and firms throughout the world,” according to one Top 100 candidate. It’s this generous collaboration that resonated most with his peers, making Bourke “one of the most well-known names from within a firm,” according to one.

No. 7: Charles Rettig

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Rettig has ushered in major changes at the Internal Revenue Service, including efforts at modernization and improving the taxpayer experience, even while weathering COVID-19, pandemic-related legislation and depleted resources. As one T100 candidate mused: “There might not be another revenue commissioner that has ever had to face constant crises on so many fronts.”

No. 4: Erik Asgeirsson (tie)

Asgeirsson’s guidance through the pandemic has remained pivotal for CPAs as they attend AICPA and CPA.com town halls and rely on both organizations’ copious resources to navigate the regulatory changes that continue to expand their already outsized workloads.

No. 4: Sue Coffey (tie)

Sue Coffey

SUEBARR

Coffey’s leadership on some large projects catapulted her even higher into the sphere of influence for her peers over the past year, including her work on the CPA Evolution initiative and the Dynamic Audit Solution.

No. 4: Allan Koltin (tie)

Allan Koltin

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Mergers and acquisitions maestro Koltin, as one T100 candidate put it, “continues to be one of the most impactful M&A experts in the accounting space and has been particularly influential helping navigate and understand nontraditional firm combinations designed to bolster consulting services in accounting firms.”

No. 3: Kimberly Ellison-Taylor

Rounding out the influencers’ top three influencers for another year is this energetic advocate for the profession, who was commended by many for leading the charge on diversity and inclusion, and even applauded for her welcome ubiquity: “She’s everywhere!” marvelled one.

No. 2: Tom Hood

Hood’s transition into a new role with the AICPA over the past year only strengthened his prominence in the profession as he continues to reach and shape so many accountants globally, helping him retain his position as the second-highest vote-getter among the T100, with his peers explaining, “He represents the leadership model that is emerging as the best practice for the digital era — humanistic, agile, visionary and risk-tolerant.”

No. 1: Barry Melancon

Barry Melancon was once again named the profession’s most influential person by his Top 100 peers, with candidates crediting his leadership at the AICPA and his stewardship of the accounting community during the pandemic. While he holds a high-profile position in the profession, his fellow influencers praised how he wields that power, with one noting: “Barry is driving a significant shift toward business transformation as the primary role of the CPA.”