Barry Melancon, who has served as president and CEO of the American Institute of CPAs since 1995, announced that he will step down on Dec. 31, 2024.
The announcement was made today at the spring meeting of the AICPA Governing Council.
In addition to heading the institute, Melancon is president and CEO of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, a role he has held since organizing the combination of the AICPA and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in 2017.
The association's board is working with global executive search firm Korn Ferry on finding a successor; they expect to announce a choice by the end of the year.
"The board and I had targeted Dec. 31 2024, way back in 2017, so it's been a very planned and orderly process," Melancon told Accounting Today. "It hadn't been out as a public date, but it's sort of a natural transition; it will be just a couple months shy of my being 30 years in this role."
"Age is a part of it — I'm 66 now," he added. "I know people work to different ages, but when you look at the number of years I've been in this role, it made sense to target this."
Having begun his career as an accountant at a public firm in Louisiana and then led the Society of Louisiana CPAs, Melancon became the youngest-ever head of the institute in 1995 at the age of 37.
He has been instrumental in shaping the modern profession, from launching CPA.com, computerizing the CPA exam and establishing the Center for Audit Quality, to shaping public accounting's response to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and guiding in its adaptation to recurring waves of technological, demographic and regulatory change over three decades.
"Hopefully we've been successful at positioning the profession for success, giving it permission to do certain things and to see around the corner in a lot of ways," Melancon said. "I feel confident that the board will want someone who will carry on with that sort of attitude and idea of what the profession is all about, and hopefully the next leader will be committed to that."
While he said it was important that the selection process be run independent of him, he also promised to be ready to help with the transition to whoever is chosen.
"I want to do everything possible for the person to be successful. The timeline is for us to have sufficient time ahead of Dec. 31 for this to take place," he said. "Depending on the person and their availability, there will be a chance to work on knowledge transfer, but if the timing needs to be adjusted because of their availability, I'll be available after December."
Melancon has no immediate post-retirement plans, but didn't rule out continued involvement in accounting.
"I want to stay active and engaged," he said. "Obviously I have a passion for the profession — hopefully there will be some opportunities on boards or to stay involved otherwise. I think the future of the profession is fantastic, and where I can stay engaged, I look forward to doing it, but I don't plan on anything full-time."
"It'll be a big change for me, no doubt," he added. "I've been doing this for a long time. It's been a great amount of fun and a great journey, and getting to represent this profession is a great honor."
Outgoing AICPA chair Okorie Ramsey said in a statement, "Throughout his career, Barry has been a passionate advocate for the profession, promoting how it serves the public interest to policymakers and regulators; a champion for diversity, equity and inclusion; and a believer in innovation and technology. … We have much to appreciate Barry for and wish him well in his upcoming retirement. On behalf of the board, we send our heartfelt thanks and wish him well in the next phase of his life."
Sarah Ghosh, CIMA president and co-chair of the association, added in a statement, "Barry has always been able to keep the profession one step ahead in dealing with future challenges and realizing opportunities. He has led global efforts to upskill the profession to embrace innovation, sustainability, inclusion and instill a life-long learning mindset. … We are indebted to his life-long commitment and service to the accounting profession."
Past AICPA chair Anoop Mehta will lead the selection committee tasked with finding Melancon's successor.
"Barry leaves the association in a great position and with a strong leadership team to accelerate and lead the profession to grasp the opportunities which lay ahead," he said in a statement.
More information on the search and the position are available on the Korn-Ferry website, or on the
