The American Institute of CPAs has named James Leisenring as the recipient of its 2019 Gold Medal Award of Distinction.
The highest honor granted by the AICPA, the Gold Medal Award has recognized CPAs with notable influence on the accounting profession since its inception in 1944.
Lewis Sharpstone, a member of the AICPA Awards Committee, presented Leisenring with the award on Monday at the spring meeting of the AICPA’s Governing Council in Washington, D.C.
“Jim has been at the forefront in setting accounting standards throughout his illustrious career,” Sharpstone stated. “His dedication to high-quality standards is steadfast and evident in the role he’s played in developing U.S. and international accounting standards.”
Leisenring was appointed senior advisor to the Financial Accounting Standards Board in 2010 when he retired from the International Accounting Standards Board. He was appointed as a member of the IASB in 2001 and as the IASB’s liaison member to the FASB. At the time of Leisenring's apointment to the IASB, he was FASB's director of international activities.
Leisenring previously chaired the FASB Derivatives Implementation Group and the FASB Financial Instruments Task Force, and was a member of the International Joint Working Group on Financial Instruments. Leisenring also served as chairman of the G4+1, a group of national standard setters representing Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. He also served as chairman of the AICPA Auditing Standards Board prior to his appointment at FASB.
Leisenring was previously a faculty member of Western Michigan University from 1964 to 1969. He received his BA from Albion College and an MBA from Western Michigan University.
For more on the Gold Medal Award of Distinction, head to the AICPA's
