NEW LEADERSHIP FOR POB

Charles A. Bowsher, CPA, former Comptroller General of the United States, has been elected to chair the Public Oversight Board (POB) of the AICPA's SEC Practice Section. Donald J. Kirk was elected vice chair. As chair, Bowsher replaces A. A. Sommer, Jr., who remains on the board.

The transfer of leadership to the younger Bowsher after Sommer's more than 15 years service on the board and 13 years service as chair is a natural progression. The CPA Journal has been privileged to have A.A. Sommer participate in two of its symposia on important issues facing the profession, first in 1993 and most recently last December. He has been a statesman and faithful public servant in helping to provide confidence to the public about the role of the independent public accountant in the financial reporting system of public companies. Similarly, the thinking and vision of both Bowsher and Kirk have previously appeared in the Journal's pages.

Bowsher has been a member of the POB since 1997, after completing his 15-year term as Comptroller General. Bowsher has been a partner of Arthur Andersen and served as assistant secretary of the Navy for financial management. Kirk, a former FASB chair, has been a member of the POB since 1995. Kirk is currently an executive-in-residence at Columbia University, and has previously been a professor of accounting at that school and a partner at Price Waterhouse.

The POB is an autonomous body of five members established in 1977 to oversee the self-regulatory programs of the SEC Practice Section. Among the POB's current initiatives is the Panel on Audit Effectiveness, formed at SEC chair Arthur Levitt's request, to investigate audit effectiveness in light of the SEC's concern over earnings management. The panel is chaired by Shaun O'Malley, former chair of Price Waterhouse, and includes two former SEC Commissioners among its members. *

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