SEC Deputy Chief Accountant Croteau Departing

Brian Croteau, deputy chief accountant at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of the Chief Accountant, plans to step down.

Croteau manages the activities of the office’s Professional Practice group where he helps oversee the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, manages auditor independence matters, and monitors standard-setting.

His departure, which the SEC announced last Friday, comes on the heels of another shakeup in his office, after Chief Accountant James Schnurr was seriously injured in a bicycle accident (see SEC Chief Accountant Injured in Bike Accident). Deputy Chief Accountant Wesley R. Bricker was named interim chief accountant until Schnurr recovers from the accident.

The SEC did not announce where Croteau is going, but before joining the SEC he was an assurance partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

“It has been a privilege to work with the many talented and dedicated individuals at both the Commission and the PCAOB during my leadership of OCA’s Professional Practice Group,” Croteau said in a statement. “We have worked closely to advance numerous audit quality and internal control over financial reporting initiatives, and I am pleased with what we have accomplished to support and enhance the usefulness and reliability of financial reporting to investors.”