FEI'S CUNNINGHAM TO STEP DOWNFLORHAM PARK, N.J. - Colleen Cunningham, who transitioned from an early career in public accounting to become chief accountant at AT&T and, eventually, the head of Financial Executives International, will step down as chief executive of the 15,000-member group.
"The expectation is that three to five years is about the right amount of time for this position, and I've been here three-and-a-half," said Cunningham, who assumed the president and chief executive posts at FEI in March 2003. She will remain during the organization's search for a successor. "I love the job and FEI's a fabulous organization, but it's time to move on to something else."
The organization is comprised of senior-level financial executives, including chief financial officers and controllers.
Cunningham began her career as an auditor at both Touche Ross and Coopers & Lybrand. She then spent 13 years as assistant controller at AT&T Capital and later as vice president and chief accountant at AT&T corporate. Prior to heading FEI, Cunningham served as senior vice president and CFO, North America, of Havas Advertising, where she was responsible for financial operations and worldwide accounting policies, as well as establishing and staffing the company's North American headquarters.
Cunningham has also been a frequent member of Accounting Today's Top 100 Most Influential People roster.
FEWER ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS FROM SEC
WASHINGTON - The Securities and Exchange Commission has released some enforcement statistics through July - 10 months into the agency's 2006 fiscal year.
According to published reports, the SEC has filed 492 enforcement actions, but expects to see a normal flurry of activity during the final two months of its year. At the current rate, projections are for the SEC to file about 590 cases for the current fiscal year, a drop from the 630 cases filed between Oct. 1, 2004, and Sept. 30, 2005.
The SEC recorded a record number of enforcement actions - 679 - during its 2003 fiscal year. Experts have suggested that the reason behind the drop could be that the agency is now focusing on pulling delinquent filers from the public markets. Beginning in 2005, the SEC became more aggressive about deregistering companies that had become delinquent in making their required quarterly filings with the regulatory agency. That year, the SEC filed 33 such actions; this year, the agency's first under Chairman Christopher Cox, the SEC said that it has already brought 53 actions against delinquent filers.
The SEC employed about 4,000 people as of October 2005, though that number is expected to drop closer to 3,700 by the close of the 2006 fiscal year due to budget constraints.
KPMG NAMES AMERICAS REGION COO
NEW YORK - The executive vice chair of operations for KPMG LLP will take on the additional position of regional chief operating officer for the Americas region of KPMG International.
Jack Taylor, 54, will be working with the leaders of the KPMG International member firms in the region to ensure that the structure and business plans of the offices are aligned. He will also be a member of KPMG's international executive team and the U.S. firm's management committee.
CORRECTION
"Retirement ages for Social Security" (Aug. 21-Sept. 3, 2006, page 14) said that Social Security pays a monthly benefit to those with at least 40 months of work under the program. In fact, they must have 40 credits, or at least 10 years.
