FYI
In a post-election change, Elisse Walter replaced Mary Schapiro as SEC chairman.
President Barack Obama named Walter, who has been an SEC commissioner since 2008, as Schapiro’s successor. After leading the agency’s response to the financial crisis, Schapiro stepped down Dec. 14.
Walter can serve without Senate approval through December because the Senate confirmed her when she was named a commissioner. She served as acting chairman during January 2009. Before Walter’s appointment as an SEC commissioner, she served as senior executive vice president for regulatory policy and programs for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
“She is a very able and experienced regulator,” AICPA President and CEO Barry Melancon said in a statement. “We are committed to working with her on the many financial and accounting matters of importance to CPAs and investors alike.”
Schapiro became chairman in January 2009 as the United States was struggling to break free of the grip of a crisis that put some of the nation’s largest financial institutions on the brink of collapse.
Tokar, a CPA, has served more than 10 years as the global leader for KPMG’s international financial reporting group, helping companies around the world adopt and apply IFRS. She previously worked as the SEC’s senior associate chief accountant for international issues.
She was scheduled to join the IASB in January for a term that will end June 30, 2017, when she will be eligible to have her term renewed for three years. Her appointment could soften concerns that the IASB will shun U.S. representation and influence as a result of the SEC’s continuing indecision on whether to allow or require U.S. issuers to file financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRS.
Tokar’s appointment means that the number of IASB members from the United States will remain at three.
