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Everyone from politicians, regulators and firm leaders, to professional body chiefs, standard-setters and chief financial officers have made

it onto International Accounting Bulletin’s and sister publication the The Accountant’s 2012 Power 50, which lists the accounting profession most influential individuals.

We whittled down a list of more than 100 high-flyers with the help of seven expert judges to come up with our top 50. The list is broken down into five categories of influ-ence: the top 10, 11 to 20, 21 to 30, 31-40 and 41-50.

However, within those categories the list is not ranked only alphabetised.

top 10Name: Hans HoogervorstNationality: DutchOrganisation: International Accounting Stan-dards Board (IASB)Job title: Chairman

In the past year, Hoogervorst has continued to champion the IASB’s goal of creating a single global accounting language, with Russia most recently adopting IFRS in full.

During the year, the board successfully re-exposed IFRS 9 and IFRS 8 as well as the insurance standard. However, recently, some convergence projects with the US Financial Accounting Standards Board have broken down. There are also some important mar-kets yet to adopt IFRS, including the US, China, India and Japan.

Name: Ian BallNationality: AmericanOrganisation: Inter-national Federation of Accountants (IFAC)Job title: CEO

Under Ball’s leadership IFAC has put public

sector financial reporting at the top of its agenda in the past year particularly as the soverign debt crisis has become more preva-lent. Ball has urged the G20 to take action against current inconsistent and unreliable reporting.

Name: James DotyNationality: AmericanOrganisation: Public Company Account-ing Oversight Board (PCAOB)Job title: Chairman

Under Doty’s leadership the PCAOB has finally made progress with Chinese regula-tors securing observational visits to build up mutual trust in 2012.

He has also been instrumental in examin-ing ways to improve auditor independence, objectivity, and professional scepticism such as through mandatory audit firm rotation.

In the past year, on the back of this, the oversight board conducted numerous round tables across the US to gather feedback. It also adopted an audit committee communi-cation standard ensuring more meaningful dialogue between auditors and audit com-mittees to improve the quality of audits.

Name: Mary SchapiroNationality: AmericanOrganisation: US Securities and Exchange Commis-sion (SEC)Job title: Former chairman

Schapiro, who stepped down as SEC chair-man in November after nearly four years in the job, had a busy last year with the fate of the regulator hanging in the balance and the US capital markets in tumult.

Despite not successfully finalising a deci-sion on IFRS adoption for the country during her tenure, one of the longest in SEC history,

the agency has become better at pursuing tips and complaints, identifying wrongdo-ers and inspecting financial firms. She also improved stakeholder engagement and enforced exchanges to create consolidated audit trails to enable the SEC to reconstruct trading across various trading venues.

Schapiro will be replaced by SEC commis-sioner Elisse Walter.

Name: Michel BarnierNationality: FrenchOrganisation: Euro-pean Commission Job title: Internal market and servic-es commissioner

Barnier’s ‘controversial’ EU audit reform proposals, such as mandatory audit firm rotation and restrictions on non-audit servic-es have continued to make waves across the region and internationally during the year.

In 2012, the proposals landed in the laps of EU Parliament (EP) committees like the EP Committee on Legal Affairs (Juri) to begin their assessment – and the debate, as well as lobbying from accounting firms, remains fierce. Barnier’s proposals have also led to the Dutch Government considering early

■ toP 50

List of judgessue Almond, technical director, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)J Kevin mcGrath, chief executive,Crowe Horwath Internationaldan Noll, director of accounting standards, American Institute of Certified Public Accountantsliza robbins, chief executive, Morison InternationalPablo san martin, chief executive, SMS LatinoamericaNaomi smith, technical expert in management accounting, Chartered Institute of Management AccountantsPauline wallace, head of UK public policy and regulatory affairs, PwC UK <

Top influencers in the professionLeaders from professional bodies, firms, standard-setters and regulators are among the 50 most influential people in the accounting profession. International Accounting Bulletin and sister publication The Accountant has compiled the only truly global list of top influencers

December 2012 y 7www.InternationalAccountingBulletin.com

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adoption in the Netherlands, which, if signed into law, could act as a catalyst for other European countries to follow suit.

Name: Michel PradaNationality: FrenchOrganisation: IFRS Foundation Job title: Chairman

Michel Prada, chairman of the IFRS Foun-dation since the beginning of 2012, has committed himself to improving the stan-dard-setting process and promoting IFRS. He also greatly contributed to business expansion of IFRS into Asia-Oceania.

Name: Paul BeswickNationality: AmericanOrganisation: US Securities and Exchange Commis-sion (SEC)Job title: Acting chief accountant

Acting chief accountant at the US SEC since July, Beswick, the former deputing chief accountant, is overseeing accounting inter-pretations, international accounting matters and professional practice issues.

He was part of the team that put together this year’s final staff report on the work plan towards global accounting standards, but which didn’t offer an opinion on whether IFRS should be adopted in the US.

Name: Paul DruckmanNationality: BritishOrganisation: International Inte-grated Reporting Council (IIRC)Job title: CEO

Druckman has jumped into the top 10 this year due to his high-profile work in spread-ing the word of integrated reporting (IR) and specifically the IIRC’s creation of the world’s first IR framework.

He has spent the majority of the year trav-elling across the globe engaging with a vari-ety of stakeholders.

Under his leadership the IIRC issued a prototype of the IR framework in Novem-ber and is on track to issue a draft of the framework in April 2013 followed by the final version 1.0 in December 2013.

Name: Sarah, Baroness Hogg

Nationality: BritishOrganisation: UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC)Job title: Chairman

In the past year, under Hogg’s chairmanship, the FRC was given the green light to reform its ‘outdated’ structure. It also completed proj-ects to update the UK Corporate Governance and Stewardship codes and issued the first two accounting standards as part of its steps to replace the current UK GAAP reporting framework.

Name: Stephen HadrillNationality: BritishOrganisation: UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC)Job title: CEO

Haddrill, FRC chief executive since 2009, supported the regulator’s strategy to reform its structure.

He is an avid UK commentator on transparency, regulation and the qual-ity of reporting, most recently criticis-ing the European Commission’s audit reform proposals as ‘damaging to audit’.

11-20Name: Barry MelanconNationality: AmericanOrganisation: American Institute of Certified Pub-lic Accountants (AICPA)Job title: President and chief executive

Under Melancon’s leadership, AICPA, the world’s largest accounting institute, launched the first global management accounting des-ignation – CGMA – jointly with the UK’s Chartered Institute of Management Accoun-tants in 2012.

This follows a growing trend of consoli-dation among professional bodies to serve better an increasingly international member base and be heard on the global stage.

Name: Cindy FornelliNationality: AmericanOrganisation: US Centre for Audit Quality (CAQ)Job title: Executive director

Under the executive directorship of Fornelli, a well-reputed commentator on audit policy and a corporate governance champion in the US, the CAQ issued a guide on US Pub-lic Company Accounting Oversight Board inspections of public company auditing firms in the past year.

The body continues to influence the US audit market with Fornelli, who is also a member of the Financial Accounting Stan-dards Advisory Council, at the helm.

Name: Helen BrandNationality: BritishOrganisation: Association of Chartered Certi-fied Accountants (ACCA)Job title: Chief executive

Brand has been continued to drive the insti-tute’s global relationships and push for the development of better education and train-ing in the accountancy profession in the past year.

Under her leadership, the ACCA became the first professional accounting body to issue an integrated report publicly.

Name: Ian MackintoshNationality: New ZealandOrganisation: International Accounting Stan-dards Board (IASB)Job title: Vice-chairman

Ian Mackintosh was appointed vice- chairman in July 2011 and has since contin-ued to support the development of the IFRS conceptual framework and the global push for IFRS to become the single global account-ing language.

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Name: James TurleyNationality: AmericanOrganisation: Ernst & Young (E&Y) globalJob title: Chairman and chief executive

Turley, who will step down in mid-2013 after 11 years as chairman and chief executive, has led the global network, which has grown by 8% in the past year despite continued hard-ships during the global financial crisis.

However, the year was somewhat marred as Turley was made to defend E&Y’s audit of defunct Lehman Brothers after a lawsuit was filed against the Big Four firm. New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo alleged E&Y “substantially” helped the bank mis-lead investors from 2001 until the bank’s collapse in 2008, by approving a move that temporarily reduced Lehman’s debt, giving the impression the bank was in a stronger financial position than it was.

Name: Leslie SeidmanNationality: AmericanOrganisation: US Financial Account-ing Standards BoardJob title: Chairman

One of Seidman’s main goals as FASB chair-man for 2012 was to complete the outstand-ing US GAAP/IFRS convergence projects with the International Accounting Standards Board. However, there has been a break-down in the boards’ ability to agree on some of the more controversial standards.

One milestone was reached earlier in the year though when the two reached an agree-ment on the contentious lease accounting standard.

Name: Mervyn KingNationality: South AfricanOrganisation: International Inte-grated Reporting Council (IIRC)Job title: Chairman

Though King has stepped somewhat out of the integrated reporting limelight, allowing his IIRC colleague Paul Druckman to pick up the baton, he remains one of the accounting

profession’s most influential people. His work on corporate governance, via

the King Reports on Corporate Governance, in South Africa continues to influence other markets across other parts of the world and he continues to inspire the next generation through his professorship at the University of South Africa in the College of Economic and Management Sciences with a focus on Corpo-rate Citizenship.

Name: Mervyn KingNationality: BritishOrganisation: Bank of EnglandJob title: Governor

King, who is due to step down in 2013, has been Governor of the Bank of England since 2003, supervising the struggle for monetary and financial stability in the UK, particularly in the wake of the global financial crisis.

In late 2012, he was awarded an honorary degree of civil law by the University of Kent.

Name: Olivier Boutellis-TaftNationality: FrenchOrganisation: Fédération des Experts Comptables Européens (FEE)Job title: Chief executive

During 2012, Boutellis-Taft, who has been head of the FEE for six years, continued to be the leading voice for member organisations.

He is an avid commentator on regulation, legislation and standards that affect the pro-fession in Europe.

Name: Xie XurenNationality: ChineseOrganisation: Ministry of Finance of the People’s Republic of ChinaJob title: Minister of Finance

Former director-general of the State Admin-istration of Taxation, Xuren remains in his role as China’s minister of finance and continues to push for stronger support for China’s small and medium-sized enterprises through policy and tax reductions. 21-30

Name: Barry SalzbergNationality: AmericanOrganisation: Deloitte global Job title: Chief executive

Long-time Deloitte employee, Salzberg, who began his career with the Big Four firm in 1977, has once again ensured the world’s second-largest professional services firm sustained good growth with a 9% increase in global revenues for the year to September 2012.

In the past year, he was also appointed a trustee of the IFRS Foundation.

Name: Charles TilleyNationality: BritishOrganisation: Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA)Job title: Chief executive

Under Tilley’s leadership in 2012, CIMA has continued to forge close working partner-ships with overseas accounting institutions, most recently renewing an agreement with the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Australia.

He has advocated global corporate report-ing reform, and has spoken around the world on business sustainability and ethics.

Name: Sir David TweedieNationality: BritishOrganisation: Insitute of Char-tered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS)Job title: President

Sir David Tweedie joined ICAS as president in April 2012, following a decade working to develop and promote IFRS as chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).

He told The Accountant in an exclusive interview this year that in his current role he wanted to encourage “bright kids” from deprived backgrounds to enter the profession.

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Name: Dennis NallyNationality: AmericanOrganisation: PwC InternationalJob title: Chairman

Under Nally’s chairmanship PwC remains the world’s largest professional services firm after briefly loosing the title to Deloitte in 2010.

In 2012, despite tough global economic conditions, the Big Four firm reported 8% growth to $31.5bn. He was reappointed to the position in November with his consecu-tive term beginning in January 2013.

Name: Ernst LigteringenNationality: DutchOrganisation: Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)Job title: Chief executive

This year under Ligteringen, GRI launched its next generation of Sustainability Report-ing Guidelines, known as G4. It also worked to promote the ‘Report or Explain’ agenda, and issued proposals to improve anti-corrup-tion reporting.

Ligterigen has headed GRI since 2002, pursuing its mission to make sustainability reporting common practice across the globe.

Name: Françoise FloresNationality: FrenchOrganisation: European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG)Job title: Chairman

In 2012, Flores has continued to lead EFRAG during important talks on IFRS 9 and has pushed for further cooperation with the International Accounting Standards Board and the US Financial Accounting Standards Board.

She has been a member of EFRAG’s Techni-cal Expert Group for nine years, contributing her IFRS expertise.

Name: Michael IzzaNationality: BritishOrganisation: Institute of Char-tered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)Job title: Chief executive

In the past year, Izza has continued to expand ICAEW’s international connections, most recently signing an agreement with the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus, and has pushed the sustainability reporting agenda.

He’s a regular media commentator and has been at the forefront of increasing ICAEW engagement with stakeholders.

Name: Sajjad KarimNationality: BritishOrganisation: European Parlia-ment Committee on Legal Affairs (Juri)Job title: MEP and rapporteur

Karim has been in the spotlight this year as the European Parliament Committee on Legal Affairs rapporteur on the audit reform document passed to the parliament by the European Commission.

His initial report contained watered-down proposals and is leaning more towards a market-led solution to the alleged audit market concentration. The committee is still working on a final document.

Name: Steven MaijoorNationality: DutchOrganisation: European Securi-ties and Markets Authority (ESMA)Job title: Chairman

In 2011 Maijoor was appointed as the first chairman of ESMA, an independent institu-tion which works to reinforce the stability and good functioning of European financial markets. ESMA contributes to the supervi-sion of financial services firms with a pan-European reach.

Under Maijoor’s leadership, the regulator has spoken out in support of IFRS adoption in the US and has worked tirelessly to get more guidance on materiality in financial

reporting introduced to the market.

Name: Chen YuguiNationality: ChineseOrganisation: Chinese Institute of Certified Pub-lic Accountants (CICPA)Job title: Deputy president and sec-retary general

CICPA deputy president and secretary gen-eral Yugui, who is an advocate of the adop-tion of IFRSs in China, has continued to take the accounting profession further towards its goal of ‘going global’ in the past year.

Part of this is the plan to grow China’s domestic accounting firms significantly, so they are able to compete with the Big Four, and under Yugai’s leadership CICPA con-tinues to support this goal, most recent-ly drafting a relevant policy document.

31-40Name: Bob MoritzNationality: AmericanOrganisation: PwC USJob title: Chairman and senior partner

Moritz is in his final year as chairman of PwC US, having taken over in 2009 follow-ing a period of recession in the US.

He is also on the governing board of the US Center for Audit Quality, which promotes robust auditing practices.

Name: Eduardo PocettiNationality: BrazilianOrganisation: Ins-tiuto dos Auditores Independentes do Brasil (IBRACON)Job title: President

Pocetti was appointed IBRACON president in 2012. Under his leadership the Brazil-ian institute has launched a full schedule of programmes aimed at strengthening the accounting profession to meet the needs and interests of members in Brazil’s tougher eco-nomic conditions. 44

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Name: Jean RogersNationality: AmericanOrganisation: US Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB)Job title: Executive director

Rogers launched the US SASB in 2012 with the goal of setting comparable industry- specific standards for sustainability report-ing. She previously worked with the Global Reporting Initiative to develop the G3 guide-lines and the Initiative for Responsible Invest-ment, developing sector-specific methods for assessing sustainability.

Name: John VeihmeyerNationality: AmericanOrganisation: KPMG USJob title: CEO

As well as being chief executive of KPMG US, John Veihmeyer is chairman of the Americas region for KPMG International, including the US, Canada, Central and South America, and Israel.

This year Veihmeyer has worked to pro-mote sustainability reporting, naming sustain-ability as a “core business strategy issue”

Name: Michael AndrewNationality: AustralianOrganisation: KPMG InternationalJob title: Chairman

Andrew, who has a career spanning nearly three decades at KPMG, has continued to push the expansion of the Big Four firm’s global coverage most recently opening an office in Myanmar, in the past year.

KPMG’s Chinese arm has also officially

converted its China operations from a joint venture to a special group partnership with limited liability to place control of the firm in the hands of Chinese partners after a change in Chinese regulation.

Name: Steve Almond Nationality: BritishOrganisation: Deloitte globalJob title: Chairman

Almond, who assumed his chairmanship in mid-2011, has helped support Deloitte’s stra-tegic goals during 2012, including ensuring the network’s revenue grew – the Big Four firm reported an 8.6% revenue increase in September.

He is also managing partner at Deloitte UK.

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what was your biggest challenge in 2012? Our biggest chal-lenge was focusing on growth despite being faced with the challenge of difficult

economies in numerous marketplaces.My biggest challenge during 2012 was to

focus the organisation on quality growth through attracting dynamic and global clients, merging with well-respected firms in many countries, and attracting partners and staff at all levels to increase our technical and service capabilities.

what achievement in 2012 are you most satisfied with? In addition to tripling our rate of growth and retaining quality, I am most satisfied with the building of our brand promise. This was an external and internal effort.

We had to expand our brand recognition, making it clear to the marketplace and our people what Grant Thornton represents, and operationalise the brand ideals with our partners and staff into our client service.

I am pleased that we successfully intro-duced our brand promise, from advertising

to improved client service, consistently and comprehensively throughout the world.

what do you think is the biggest issue facing the accounting profession today? As a profession, we need to find ways to add value continuously. During an audit, we should be learning valuable information about the client and the industry.

We have to be willing to share that infor-mation with our clients, and for publicly listed clients, appropriate information with audit committees and shareholders. In our advisory and tax practices, we need to search for avenues to add value to every assignment.

Accountants, auditors and business advi-sors have been around for more than 100 years, and I predict will be around for more than 100 to come. But, as a profession, we need to take the responsibility to find improved methodologies and approaches to increase quality and add more value for clients and the users of financial reports.

While each firm will strive to do some of this on their own, we could be more effec-tive working together as a profession. The more we add value the better we will be at attracting the best talent into the profession.

what are your major goals in terms of your professional influence on the accounting profession in 2013?

I have five goals for my influence on the profession in 2013:

• The leaders of the top global accounting firms work together to add more value, and improve the quality of audits and other ser-vices provided by the profession; • Work together with the legislators and regulators worldwide to develop sensible and helpful changes to advance the qual-ity of our services and the reputation of the profession, and better serve investors and the users of financial reports;• Continue to support efforts to develop high-quality and practical accounting stan-dards globally to bring greater transparency to the users of financial reports;• Work together to expand the role of reporting for companies into an integrated approach; and,• I would like Grant Thornton to act as a leader in adding value to our services, improving the quality of the financial and non-financial information provided by com-panies, their auditors and advisors.<

■ GrANt thorNtoN iNterNAtioNAl, chieF eXecUtive (31-40)

Edward Nusbaum



Name: Timothy GeithnerNationality: AmericanOrganisation: US Department of the TreasuryJob title: Secretary of the Treasury

Geithner was appointed as US Secretary of the Treasury under President Obama in 2009 and has been reappointed for another four years.

He reconfirmed the US’s commitment to global accounting standards in May this year during a joint meeting held in Beijing to promote US-China cooperative partnership. However, the US has yet to adopt IFRS.

Name: Warren AllenNationality: New ZealandOrganisation: International Federation of Accountants (IFAC)Job title: President

Allen was appointed IFAC president in 2012 after serving as deputy president for the previ-ous two years. He is an Ernst & Young New Zealand partner and former president and life member of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Name: Wolfgang SchäubleNationality: GermanOrganisation: German Ministry of FinanceJob title: Finance Minister

Schäuble, who was central to the reunification of Germany in 1989-1990 as interior minister, and who turned 70 this year making him a veteran among his peers, has been at the cen-tre of the eurozone crisis during the year.

He is part of the Euro Group tasked with saving the 17 eurozone member states from breaking up.

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Name: Alex MalleyNationality: AustralianOrganisation: CPA AustraliaJob title: Chief executive

Malley, who is also a member of the Inter-national Integrated Reporting Council, has continued to advocate sustainability and inte-grated reporting strongly throughout 2012. He is also a business commentator in broad-cast media and hosts the television show The Bottom Line, screened nationally on Austra-lia’s Channel 7 Digital.

Name: Andy Halford Nationality: BritishOrganisation: The Hundred Group of Finance DirectorsJob title: Chairman

Halford chairs The Hundred Group of Finance Directors, which represents the views of the finance directors of FTSE 100 and sev-eral large private UK companies.

It aims to promote the competitiveness of the UK for UK businesses, particularly in the areas of tax, reporting, pensions, regulation, capital markets and corporate governance.

He also serves as chief financial officer for Vodaphone Group and previously worked for PwC.

Name: Guido Mantega Nationality: BrazilianOrganisation: Brazil Ministry of FinanceJob title: State min-ister of finance

Mantega, who had his position renewed by current president Dilma Rousseff in 2011, has most recently been called to account after Bra-zil’s economy grew a mere 0.6% in Q3 – half the rate he had forecast.

In the wake of the announcement there have been calls for him to step down. Prior to his political career he was a professor of economics.

Name: James Quigley Nationality: AmericanOrganisation: Deloitte USJob title: Senior partner

Quigley, the former chief executive of Deloitte global, has continued to engage with differ-ent international business organisations and committees aimed at shaping the policies for a competitive and sustainable economy in the past year.

Name: John Griffith-JonesNationality: BritishOrganisation: Financial Conduct Authority (FCA - 2013)Job title: Non-exec-utive chairman

Griffith-Jones, the former chief executive and chairman of KPMG UK, was appointed a non-executive chair of the FCA, which will begin operating next year when the Financial Services Authority ceases operations.

The FCA will regulate financial firms pro-viding services to consumers and maintain the integrity of the financial markets

Name: Liesel KnorrNationality: GermanOrganisation: Accounting Stan-dards Committee of Germany (DRSC)Job title: President

Under the continued leadership of Knorr, the DRSC has been saved from extinction after she solved a funding issue and in the past year finalised a change to its constitution, which has seen the standard-setter grow from just one committee dealing with both national and international standards to two committees – the IFRS Committee and National GAAP Committee.

Name: Russell PicotNationality: BritishOrganisation: HSBCJob title: Global chief accounting officerPicot, who is HSBC’s 4

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group chief accounting officer, is a regular commentator on a number of issues affecting financial reporting.

He continues to work as a member of the International Integrated Reporting Council, which is tasked with creating the world’s first integrated reporting framework, a final ver-sion of which is due to be issued late 2013.

Picot has also been directly involved with the Prince of Wales Accounting for Sustain-ability project since its inception in 2006.

Name: Shri Palaniap-pan ChidambaramNationality: IndianOrganisation: India Ministry of FinanceJob title: Minister of finance

Chidambaram is a corporate lawyer by trade and has a Master of Business Administration from Harvard University.

He also served as finance minister for four years until 2008 under a previous Govern-ment before being appointed home affairs minister.

Chidambaram was reappointed as finance minister in July by current prime minister Manmohan Singh.

Name: Toshio KinoshitaNationality: JapaneseOrganisation: Japanese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (JICPA)Job title: CEO

During the past year, Kinoshita, who is chief executive of JICPA, Japan’s only professional accounting body, formed in 1949, has con-tinued to support its 23,336 strong mem-bership and the wider business community in the aftermath of the 9.0 magnitude earth-quake, which rocked Japan in spring 2011.

He has also worked tirelesly on the conver-gence of Japanese accounting standards with IFRS, as well as pushing along the redrafting of the country’s standards to be consistent with the clarified International Standards on Auditing. In 2012, on the back of the Olympics scandal, which broke late in 2011 after large undisclosed previous losses span-ning more than 10 years beginning in the late 1990s were discovered, he also launched JIC-PA’s own investigation into the audit work carried out.<

American Weinberg-er has been selected as the future global chairman and chief executive of E&Y, as his predecessor James Turley steps down.

His term will begin in June 2013.Weinberger also sits on The Big Four

firm’s global executive board and is global head of tax.

what was your biggest challenge in 2012?Helping to manage a global business at a time of so much uncertainty around the

economy, geopolitics and regulation, while at the same time navigating unprecedented changes in our profession around the world.

what achievement in 2012 are you most satisfied with?I am pleased that, despite the volatility in the global economy, our business continued to grow around the world as we worked tirelessly to help our clients.

On a more personal level I remain deeply appreciative of how our people rally around each other and their local communities, when natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy occur.

what do you think is the biggest issue facing the accounting profession today?The uncertainty around the myriad changes in the regulation of our profession, as well as the need to make sure we do our part to restore confidence in the capital markets that has been shaken over the past several years.

what are your major goals in terms of your professional influence on the accounting profession in 2013?To work with regulators, policy-makers and stakeholders to do all we can to restore con-fidence in our profession.<

■ erNst & yoUNG (e&y) GloBAl, iNcomiNG chAirmAN ANd chieF eXecUtive 2013 (41-50)

Mark Weinberger

ian Ball, chief executive, international Federation of Accountants“Meeting our number one grandchild in Perth is my number one wish, and we are in good shape to achieve that.”

Paul druckman, chief executive, international integrated reporting council“A temporary communication blackout from the world – emails, texts, tweets, Salesforce Chatter, Gmail chats, Skype IM, LinkedIn messages, and telephone calls.”

ed Nusbaum, chief executive, Grant thornton international“The politically correct answer would be world peace, and some of my direct reports have told me that world peace might be easier to achieve

than the goals I have set for them! “Of course my overall wishes are for improvements in our global society, from reducing hunger and disease to reacting to the numerous natural disasters that appear to be occurring at an ever-increasing pace. “From a business standpoint, I will wish for 100 new, high-quality partners around the world to join Grant Thornton to make us stronger and better able to grow and serve our clients. That would indeed be a wonderful, practical present to kick off the new Year.”

mark weinberger, incoming chairman and chief executive 2013, ernst & young global“world peace. Short of that, a better working world.”

dennis Nally, chairman, Pwc international“Spending a peaceful holiday with family and friends and wishing the same for PwC colleagues and clients. And maybe a new golf bag!”<

■ wish list

Leaders share their Christmas wishes with IAB and TA

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Photo: Agência Brasil



Catching up with 2012’s big influencersThe International Accounting Bulletin and The Accountant approached some of the Power 50’s most influential leaders for a quick catch-up on their achievements and challenges in 2012 and what lies ahead for them in 2013

international Federation of Accountants chief executive ian Ball (top 10)

what was your biggest challenge in 2012? The balancing act of managing a vibrant, growing organisation, with ever-increasing pressures, expectations, and demands, in an environment of continuing restraint and global financial instability.

what achievement in 2012 are you most satisfied with? That we have achieved significantly greater exposure on public sector financial management issues, and there is emerging consensus – finally!

what do you think is the biggest issue facing the accounting profession today? The failure of national regulatory systems to keep pace with the globalisation of business.

what are your major goals in terms of your professional influence on the accounting profession in 2013? To help integrated reporting move forward in the next phase of development and to ensure the profession plays a leadership role in the development and execution of IR.

what do you think will be your biggest challenge in 2013? Capitalising on the progress made in getting more recognition of the problems in governmental accounting and auditing. Now there is emerging consensus on the gravity and scope of the problem, we need to find ways to motivate more governments to engage in serious institutional reform of their financial management systems, including the adoption and implementation of International Public Sector Accounting Standards. Good government accounting truly is a prerequisite to both accountability and efficient management, and can no

international integrated reporting council chief executive Paul druckman (top 10)

what was your biggest challenge in 2012?Galvanising a small organisation with huge ambition and a fundamentally important mission – to establish a consistent, collaborative and internationally accepted approach to integrated reporting.

what achievement in 2012 are you most satisfied with?The consensus we have built around the need for organisations to explain better the value they create. If allowed another, it would be my technical team producing output that has been outstandingly well received, well beyond expectations.

what do you think is the biggest issue facing the accounting profession today?To define itself in this changed world of finance, especially over expectations.

what are your major goals in terms of your professional influence on the accounting profession in 2013? To convince the profession that integrated reporting is one of the most important paradigm shifts in a generation.

what do you think will be your biggest challenge in 2013? Besides being able to maintain my golf handicap (of 9), it will be about making sure we concentrate on the big picture goals whilst getting the detail firmly grounded.<

Pwc international chairman dennis Nally (21-30)

what was your biggest challenge in 2012? 2012 has been a challenging year for business, with continued instability, natural disasters, government debt crises and enduring deficits, regulatory and political change, all adding to the prevailing uncertainty. Operating in these conditions isn’t easy, so I’d say the biggest challenge for PwC has been getting used to this new environment.

what achievement in 2012 are you most satisfied with? Our ability to post good revenue growth in a difficult economic climate. Our global revenue was up 8% at $31.5bn, the first time we have passed the $30bn milestone. Overall, our results suggest that, despite the sluggish global economy, there are many opportunities out there for PwC.

what do you think is the biggest issue facing the accounting profession today? Regulation. The financial crisis has caused people to revisit the auditor’s role. At PwC, we welcome the opportunity to have that discussion. In terms of the audit, I think there are always things we can learn. We are engaged in discussions with regulators all around the world with respect to changes that might enhance audit quality.

what are your major goals in terms of your professional influence on the accounting profession in 2013? The financial crisis has fundamentally shifted the way the world views the capital markets system. Specifically investors want more from an audit, particularly in terms of communication. This is a great opportunity for PwC and the profession to rise to this challenge and secure its long-term relevance to capital markets.< longer be seen as an optional extra.<

top influencers in the profession - ibracon · as through mandatory audit firm rotation. ... michel...

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