Protiviti exec Hirth named COSO chairman

Robert Hirth, CPA, a founding managing director of global consulting firm Protiviti, has been named chairman of the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).

COSO is a joint initiative of five private-sector organizations, including the AICPA, that provides thought leadership by developing frameworks and guidance on enterprise risk management, internal control, and fraud deterrence.

David Landsittel, COSO’s former chairman, stepped down at the end of May after leading the committee through an update of its popular internal control framework, which was released last month.

Hirth was selected after a four-month search and will serve a three-year term. He is serving a 2012–13 term on the PCAOB’s Standing Advisory Group, and was named to The Institute of Internal Auditors’s American Hall of Distinguished Audit Practitioners this year.

He has had significant international responsibilities with Protiviti assisting practice operations, and led the firm’s western United States region during the early years of the firm’s operations.

“I am honored to be selected as the new COSO chair and look forward to working with the board, each of the sponsoring organizations, and the many other firms and individuals whose goal is to help organizations of all types improve their operations, risk management, governance, and control,” Hirth said in a news release.

Hirth said one of his immediate goals is to effectively and extensively communicate the benefits of the recent update to COSO’s internal control framework.

—Ken Tysiac (ktysiac@aicpa.org) is a JofA senior editor.