Deborah Walker has joined Cherry Bekaert LLP as the national director of the firm’s compensation & benefits solutions group.
Walker will work out of the firm’s Washington D.C. office where she will provide executives and employers guidance on short and long term incentive compensation arrangements, both domestically and internationally. She will also handle tax controversy issues related to employment taxes and compensation items; qualified retirement plans; health benefits including health care reform; and other fringe benefits such as expense reimbursement arrangements concentrating on federal tax consequences and achieving strategic business goals.
In addition, Walker is a trusted advisor who has more than 35 years of experience and will advise clients on compensation deductions in mergers and acquisitions; accounting methods for compensation items; financial statement reporting of compensation; and ESOPs.
Prior to Cherry Bekaert, Walker was as a partner at two Big Four firms and Deputy to the Benefits Tax Counsel in the Office of Tax Policy at the U.S. Treasury Department, developing a broad understanding in the creation of legislation and regulations. She is also a published writer, authoring numerous articles regarding compensation and benefits matters. She was Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Taxation of Employee Benefits and a member of the Tax Advisor Editorial Board. With a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and magna cum laude honors, Walker is an alumna of Alfred University. She later earned her Master of Business Administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Heavily involved in professional organizations, Walker recently served as Chair of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' Employee Benefits Conference, an annual conference for CPAs practicing in the employee benefits area, and is a past chair of the AICPA Tax Division Executive Committee. She was named one of the World's Top 100 Accountants by Accounting News Today. She has also chaired the IRS Commissioner's Advisory Committee and is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors. Further, Walker is an active community member, serving on the Board of Directors for Martha's Vineyard Community Services and The Colombia Residences.
