CEO Melancon, ‘passionate advocate’ for the profession, to retire

Barry Melancon, CPA, CGMA, who guided the accounting profession in the United States into the digital age and led the transformation of the AICPA and CIMA into the world’s largest accounting membership body, announced Wednesday that he is retiring at the end of this year.

Melancon, the longest-serving CEO in AICPA history, will be remembered for promoting the value of the profession to the business world and for reshaping and uplifting the image of accountants. After being named, in 1995, as the youngest CEO of the AICPA — appointed at age 36, officially starting at 37 — he guided the profession through a time of transformative changes.

He was instrumental in getting U.S. accountants to think more globally. He prophetically told the JofA in 1998: “Businesses everywhere are going to be interacting much more internationally.”

Melancon, who rose from a Louisiana firm partner at age 25 to CEO of the Society of Louisiana CPAs, has been CEO of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants since 2017, five years after the joint venture between the AICPA and CIMA officially created the Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) designation.

The Melancon-led AICPA created the business and technology subsidiary CPA.com, computerized the CPA Exam, and launched two consumer financial literacy programs. Melancon oversaw additional AICPA initiatives including the launch of audit quality centers, the Digital Audit Solution (DAS), and the National Commission on Diversity & Inclusion. During his tenure, the global Association created the Future of Finance initiative and the CGMA Finance Leadership Program.

Melancon, an adept public speaker, excels at making complex topics simple for any audience. He has been a global advocate for the profession for decades, interacting with government leaders, regulators, and the business community in numerous roles.

Melancon’s official retirement date is Dec. 31, 2024. His successor is expected to be announced before the end of the year by a selection committee; Korn Ferry, a prominent executive search firm, will assist in the process, a global search of internal and external candidates.

Anoop Mehta, CPA, CGMA, a former AICPA & CIMA chair, will lead the selection committee, and Melancon will assist with the new CEO’s transition.

Goal-driven leader

Melancon, 66, expects his final months as CEO to be “business as usual” — but that phrase has never meant to Melancon what it might mean to others.

He has always been driven — graduating from high school in three years and from college in three-and-a-half years. In between, he worked as a freelance writer covering high school sports and as a broadcaster of sports on TV and radio. Upon receiving his undergraduate diploma, Melancon was inducted into the Nicholls State Hall of Fame; his alma mater later awarded him an honorary doctorate.

Five years out of college, he was elevated to partner at Bergeron & Co. CPAs in Louisiana. Before that, Melancon had a mentor who saw his potential. On the day Melancon learned he had passed the CPA Exam, a Bergeron partner removed himself from a Society of Louisiana CPAs committee and had Melancon inserted as his replacement.

Melancon also was self-motivated: For years, he kept a list of hand-written goals in a desk drawer, consulting them often. He doesn’t look at that list as often now, and the goals are now in digital form. In talking to attendees at the AICPA Leadership Academy — another initiative created during Melancon’s tenure — he emphasizes the power of such goals.

“I think written goals are very important for people,” he said. “It’s not that you can’t change them; you should change them. But the discipline of writing them down is very important.”

What other leaders are saying

An AICPA & CIMA release summed up the sentiment of several organization leaders.

Sarah Ghosh, FCMA, CGMA, CIMA president and co-chair of the Association, spoke of Melancon’s ability to be future-focused.

“Barry has always been able to keep the profession one step ahead in dealing with future challenges and realizing opportunities,” Ghosh said in the release. “He has led global efforts to upskill the profession to embrace innovation, sustainability, inclusion, and instill a lifelong learning mindset. Under his leadership, we have achieved so much to increase accessibility to the profession through different learning pathways — the CGMA Finance Leadership Program is a prime example of that.

“He has advocated on behalf of the profession with regulators and government officials to build trust in capital markets. And, he has realized and delivered the vision of creating the most global influential and largest accounting member body in the world.”

In the release, Okorie Ramsey, CPA, CGMA, outgoing AICPA chair and chair of the Association, said that Melancon has been “a passionate advocate for the profession, promoting how it serves the public interest to policymakers and regulators; a champion for diversity, equity, and inclusion; and a believer in innovation and technology. … We have much to appreciate Barry for and wish him well in his upcoming retirement.”

Mehta, the head of the selection committee for the next CEO, said in the release that Melancon’s work has set up the Association to lead the global profession into the future. “Barry leaves the Association in a great position and with a strong leadership team to accelerate and lead the profession to grasp the opportunities … ahead,” Mehta said.

A legacy of advocacy

Melancon serves on and leads global and national boards. He is a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness, and he has served as board chair of the International Integrated Reporting Council, leading its subsequent path into the IFRS Foundation and formation of the International Sustainability Standards Board.

In 2009, then-AICPA chair Ernie Almonte noted that Melancon had “strengthened the profession’s voice in public policy debates” and “fortified the profession’s role in business, finance, and capital markets.”

In 2010, Melancon told the second class of AICPA Leadership Academy participants: “Those who I admire most from a leadership perspective all faced immensely complicated issues and were able to communicate about them in simple terms and have a thick skin to deal with it.”

In 2012, Melancon was named by the JofA as one of the 125 most influential people in the history of accounting. That commemorative issue, celebrating the first 125 years of the AICPA, noted about Melancon: “He has spearheaded a number of initiatives for the Institute, including private company reporting standards [and] the launch of the CGMA designation.”

That designation’s launch with CIMA continued the AICPA’s push to become more global, and the two organizations officially joined operationally in 2017. The global membership of the organization has grown to 597,000 members, candidates, and registrants since then, according to the Association’s latest integrated report, and revenue has risen from $128 million to $341 million.

Externally, Melancon is regarded as a visionary leader and sought-after speaker. He has traveled to more than 40 countries, experience that adds to his understanding of the complexity and risks inherent in global business operations.

In its annual list of the most influential people in the profession, Accounting Today has named Melancon No. 1 each year since 2006.

Melancon, who calls serving the profession his greatest honor, also shared credit for the organization’s accomplishments.

“It’s not what I’ve done, but what we’ve done, what we’ve done as an organization, what we’ve done as a profession,” he said. “And you know, I’m proud of that. I’m not going to kid you, I am proud of that.”

In a recent interview with the JofA, Melancon said there will be time later for reflection, but he did take a moment to assess the role of the AICPA, and the global Association, in promoting the profession with him at the helm.

“My belief system in this role was that the profession was critically important to the business world and the public,” Melancon said. “And that the talent of the men and women in this profession is extraordinary. And we had to be an organization that helped to unleash that, so that the profession could have even more impact. And if you look back on those 30 years, I think that is the story. I think that is the track record, that the importance of the trust factor of our profession, the importance of the skill set of the people in our profession — we have been about creating an environment in which people can deploy that knowledge and that capability in a broader set of ways than the profession was traditionally defined.

“And I think the men and women in our profession have stepped up to that. We have been an enabler of that. We have been an encourager of that. And as a result, I think the profession has been significantly successful, both as a profession and in achieving that outcome to be more important to society.”

— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Neil Amato at Neil.Amato@aicpa-cima.com.