FASB Chair Herz Announces Impending Retirement

Robert Herz, the chair of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), has announced that he will be retiring.

“My more than eight years as chairman of the FASB have been among the most professionally challenging and personally satisfying of my career. There are hundreds of people I need to thank for their strong support and invaluable contributions to our standard-setting activities. First and foremost, I offer my deep appreciation to my fellow board members and our dedicated and talented staff. I’m very proud of our accomplishments, and I’m confident the board will continue to successfully meet the challenges ahead,” said Herz in a statement.

He will be immediately succeeded by current board member Leslie Seidman, who will serve as acting chair starting Oct. 1. Seidman, a CPA, has been a board member since 2003 and, before that, has served on the FASB in various staff roles. Before coming to the organization, she managed her own consulting firm. She began her career as an auditor in the New York office of Arthur Young and Company (now Ernst and Young).

Herz’s retirement coincides with another change on the board: the FASB will also be expanding from five to seven members. The board had operated with seven members for much of its existence but shrunk to five in 2008.

“Returning the board to the seven-member structure will enhance the FASB’s investment in the convergence agenda with the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), while addressing the unprecedented challenges facing the American capital markets in the months and years ahead,” said Financial Accounting Foundation Chair Jack Brennan, who said that the expansion will happen sometime in early 2011.