The Financial Accounting Standards Board has appointed Hillary H. Salo, a partner at KPMG, as its new technical director and chair of the Emerging Issues Task Force.
She started her accounting career at FASB as a postgraduate technical assistant and then joined KPMG, where she has been a partner in the audit practice. She will be rejoining FASB in August.
Salo will be returning to FASB during a time of great transition at the board and the world outside. In recent months, FASB has been delaying the effective dates of several of its standards in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, and has been holding its meetings online instead of its Norwalk, Connecticut headquarters. In addition, FASB chairman Russell Golden will be stepping down on June 30 at the end of his second term. He has been on the board since 2010. FASB’s sister organization, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board is also saying farewell to its longtime chair, David Vaudt, whose term also ends on June 30. FASB’s new chair will be Richard R. Jones, a partner at Ernst & Young, while Joel Black, a partner at Mauldin & Jenkins, will be chairing GASB in July. Their parent organization, the Financial Accounting Foundation also has new leadership, with chair Kathleen Casey succeeding Charles Noski at the beginning of this year.
At FASB, Salo is succeeding Shayne B. Kuhaneck, who has been interim technical director for the past year. He will be staying on as FASB as deputy director of technical activities and will remain on FASB’s leadership team. The former technical director was Susan Cosper, who became a board member at FASB last spring.
“I am honored by the opportunity to return to the FASB and to serve FASB stakeholders as director of technical activities and chair of the Emerging Issues Task Force,” Salo said in a statement Wednesday. “The independent standard-setting process is a priceless asset to our capital markets and to investors and all users of financial information. I look forward to the challenge of supporting the FASB and leading the technical staff in the years ahead.”
Salo has experience at both FASB and KPMG. After working at FASB as a technical assistant, she joined KPMG in 2004 as a senior associate in the Chicago office. For the next nine years, she worked in both the Chicago and New York offices of KPMG, spending time in both the accounting advisory services group and the audit quality and professional practice group. She also worked as a professional accounting fellow in the Office of the Chief Accountant at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. from 2013 to 2015, and then came back to KPMG in New York in 2015 as a partner.
“I’m very pleased to welcome Hillary Salo back to Norwalk as our next director of technical activities and chair of the Emerging Issues Task Force,” Golden said in a statement Wednesday. “Her exemplary career as a public accountant and her deep knowledge of the broader financial reporting landscape will serve the organization well as she takes on this important leadership role.”
Golden’s successor also welcomed her back to FASB. “Hillary Salo is an outstanding accountant and a proven leader,” said incoming FASB chair Richard R. Jones in a statement. “The next several years will be a time of significant activity and change for the FASB and our stakeholders, and Hillary will play a central role in shaping all our major initiatives.”
