11th Annual CAQ Symposium - Panelist Biographies

Panel I: Proposed Auditing Standards – The Theoretical Approach to Assessing Their Impact

MODERATOR

Paul Beswick

EY
Partner/Principle

Paul Beswick is a partner in EY’s Professional Practice Group in Washington DC, focusing on interactions and messaging with standards setters and related entities, including the FASB, and Financial Executives International (FEI), as well as the firm’s communications about standards setting activities. Paul currently represents the firm on the FASB’s Emerging Issues Task Force. He is also the Americas IFRS Desk Leader. In this role, he is responsible for answering interpretative questions on IFRS in the Americas, participates in the development of EY’s policies on IFRS, and is a member of EY’s Global IFRS Policy Committee.

Prior to joining EY, Paul served as the SEC’s Chief Accountant from July 2012 through October 2014. As Chief Accountant Paul was responsible for advising the Commission and Commission staff on accounting and auditing matters, resolving complex accounting and auditing practice issues with registrants and other market place participants, overseeing the FASB, IASB and other standards setters, and evaluating the accounting and auditing implications of numerous Commission rulemakings and initiatives.

panelist
Sara Lord

RSM US LLP
National Director of Assurance Services

Sara Lord is the National Director of Assurance Services and a member of the Board of Directors for RSM US LLP. In her role as national director, she leads the Assurance Standards and Methodology Group (ASMG), the Specialized Services Group (SSG) and audit innovation initiatives. ASMG has overall responsibility for the methodology, tools, and training supporting RSM’s assurance services. SSG includes the industry leaders that support audit quality for specialized industry practices.

Prior to joining RSM, Sara was a partner in a regional accounting firm where she served clients and was a concurring and consultation resource for accounting and assurance needs. Sara also worked for a Big Four accounting firm in a variety of roles, including audit client service, national office consultation, and global office public policy.

Sara is a member of the AICPA ASB and Vice Chair of both the CAQ’s Professional Practice Executive Committee and CAQ Advisory Council.

Sara received a bachelor of accountancy from the University of North Dakota (UND). She is a member of the UND College of Business and Public Administration Advisory Board and a 2015 inductee in the UND Accounting Hall of Fame.

panelist

Zoe-Vonna Palmrose

University of Southern California
Accounting Circle Professor Emerita of Accounting

Zoe-Vonna Palmrose is the Accounting Circle Professor Emerita of Accounting at the University of Southern California. She has also been on the faculty at the University of Washington and at the University of California – Berkeley. Zoe-Vonna has published and spoken extensively on a variety of issues related to the quality of financial reporting and auditing. She currently serves on the Deloitte Audit Quality Advisory Council and the CAQ Research Advisory Board.

From 2006 to 2008, Zoe-Vonna served at the SEC as Deputy Chief Accountant for Professional Practice in the Office of the Chief Accountant. From 1998 to 2000, she was a member of the Panel on Audit Effectiveness, which was formed by the Public Oversight Board to examine the role and responsibilities of auditors in response to concerns by former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt over earnings management and the quality of financial reporting.

Zoe-Vonna was the 2008 AAA Presidential Scholar; her research has been recognized by a number of awards. She served as Vice President-Research and a member of the Executive Committee for the AAA, and she has been a member of and chaired several AAA committees. She is a member of the CAQ’s Research Advisory Board. At the 2019 AAA Annual Meeting, Zoe-Vonna will be inducted into The Accounting Hall of Fame.

panelist
Christian Peo

KPMG LLP
Partner, Audit

Christian Peo is an Audit Partner in KPMG’s National Office Department of Professional Practice (DPP), leading KPMG’s efforts to develop a new audit methodology. In addition to his national office role, Christian audits public clients in the Orange County area. He has completed two other rotations in the DPP.

In 2008, Christian began a rotation assignment in DPP, serving the Audit and Inspection Groups. In 2010, Christian joined the staff at the SEC to serve a two-year appointment as a Professional Accounting Fellow in the Office of the Chief Accountant at the SEC. While at the SEC, he worked in the Professional Practice Group and played a key role in the Commission’s oversight of the PCAOB. His experience at the Commission has given him a deep understanding of the PCAOB’s auditing and quality control standards, the PCAOB itself, and issues facing the auditing profession. Also, in his role at the SEC, Christian was a regulatory observer of COSO’s Advisory Council on the development of the 2013 Framework.

In 2012, Christian rejoined KPMG as an audit partner and worked in DPP providing engagement teams with technical accounting, reporting and auditing matters. He also assisted in developing the firm’s audit methodology and related guidance and publications, including the incorporation of the 2013 COSO Framework into the audit methodology.

Two years later, he returned to the KPMG Orange County office where he served as an engagement partner on several issuers and non-issuers, as an SEC reviewing partner, and as the lead partner in KPMG’s Audit Quality Support program in the West Area. In 2017, Christian rejoined the national office to lead the firm’s efforts to develop a new audit methodology.

Christian frequently speaks to parties outside of KPMG about current accounting and auditing matters, and frequently trains KPMG personnel on those same matters. He has also been a part of several professional working groups, including working on the CAQ’s anti-fraud initiative.

Christian holds a BS in accounting from Brigham Young University. He is a member of the AICPA and is a licensed CPA in California and New York.

panelist

Dave Sullivan

Deloitte & Touche LLP
Senior Partner

Dave Sullivan is the senior partner for quality at Deloitte & Touche LLP. Until recently, Dave was the National Managing Partner – Quality & Professional Practice. In that role Dave led the national office including the accounting, SEC services, audit policy and methodology, risk management, inspections, and regulatory functions. He also oversaw the regional and local quality leaders.

Dave has served as a member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors at Deloitte & Touche. He is a former member of the PCAOB Standing Advisory Group, and the CAQ’s Professional Practice Executive Committee. He is a member of the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Committee of the FASB.

Other roles that Dave has held at Deloitte include Deputy Managing Partner – Professional Practice, Audit; National Professional Practice Director, West Region; Professional Practice Director in the Silicon Valley and Orange County practices; and Industry Professional Practice Director for the Technology, Media and Telecommunications industries. Dave has served large Fortune 50 companies and worked on dozens of IPOs over his career. Dave has almost 40 years of public accounting experience. He served as a practice fellow at the FASB.

Dave graduated from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, CA.

Panel II: From Concept to Practice: Implementing New Standards

moderator

Mark Baer

Crowe LLP
Managing Partner, Audit & Assurance Services

Mark Baer is the Managing Partner of Crowe’s National Audit & Assurance Practice and currently sits on the firm’s Management Committee. He has 27 years of experience working with both public and private middle-market companies, primarily in the manufacturing and distribution industry. Mark has worked with a number of SEC registrants on public offerings, filings and comfort letters, and he routinely works with clients in the mergers and acquisitions area. Many of his clients have significant international operations, as well. Mark is actively engaged with the Center for Audit Quality on a number of strategic initiatives across our profession, including serving on the CAQ Advisory Council.

Mark has a BS in accounting from Manchester University.

panelist

Phillip Austin

BDO USA, LLP
National Assurance Managing Partner – Auditing

Phillip Austin has over 28 years of public accounting experience, including client-facing service delivery, public policy, corporate governance, audit quality, and professional practice oversight. Phillip has provided services to entities in a wide range of industries with a primary focus on financial services, technology services, manufacturing and mining.

For a significant portion of his career, Phillip served in a client service partner role, providing audit and other attest services to a diverse mix of privately and publicly held clients. His experience includes auditing, ICFR attestation, IFRS and US GAAP technical accounting advisory. He has substantial experience in establishing strategy and instituting transformation programs that change the way audits are delivered, and improving the experience for clients and professionals executing audits.

Currently, Phillip serves as BDO’s National Managing Partner of Auditing. In this role, he oversees how BDO performs public and private company audits and attestation services, including the technical support functions for the nonprofit EBT and SOC practices. Phillip focuses on helping to refresh BDO’s audit strategy, leading the transformation of BDO’s approach to audit execution, and enhancing BDO’s approach to audit methodology consultations with the practice, further developing the reach and depth of BDO’s global and IFRS services, and leading the national audit team.

Phillip currently chairs BDO’s Assurance Committee, which sets firm policy governing the delivery of audit and attestation services. He participates in developing and implementing the firm’s plan for improving audit quality and contributed to the firm’s annual Audit Quality Report.

Phillip is a member of the AICPA, the Connecticut and Illinois CPA societies, and the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants. Phillip earned a BCompt. in accounting science with honors from the University of South Africa.

panelist

Abe Dymond

Public Company Accounting Standards Board
Chief of Staff

Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Chief of Staff Francis “Abe” Dymond was named Chief of Staff for the PCAOB by Chairman William D. Duhnke III on January 2, 2018. Abe advises the Board on all matters that come before the PCAOB, works closely with Board members and staff, and assists the chairman in his management and administration of the PCAOB. Previously, Abe was special counsel to Board Member Jeanette M. Franzel.

Prior to joining the PCAOB in 2012, he served as Assistant General Counsel and Assistant Director for Auditing at the Government Accountability Office. Abe also served as General Counsel to the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board, which promulgates accounting standards for the federal government. Before joining GAO in 2002, he served on active duty in the US Army as a judge advocate, a military lawyer, at various international and domestic posts.

panelist

Jen Haskell

Deloitte & Touche LLP
Deputy Chief Auditor and Global Audit Methodology Leader

Jen Haskell is the Deputy Chief Auditor of Deloitte & Touche LLP and is the Global Audit Methodology Leader for the Deloitte network. She leads the Audit & Assurance Services group which is responsible for audit and assurance methodologies, guidance, tools and technologies; standard-setting activities; and engagement team consultations.

Jen joined the Boston audit practice of Deloitte in 1993. Following a two-year overseas assignment, Jen joined the US national office, as part of the National Audit & Assurance Professional Development group, which she led from 2003 to 2005. In 2005, Jen joined the Audit & Assurance Services group, focused on US and global standard setting activities, as well as cross-border and group audits consultations and matters.

Jen served on the AICPA’s Assurance Services Executive Committee from 2017 to 2019. From 2011 to 2015, she was a member of the AICPA’s ASB. She holds a BA in economics and accounting from the College of the Holy Cross and is a CPA licensed to practice in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

panelist

Josh Jones

EY
Partner, National Professional Practice Group – Audit Services

Josh Jones is a Partner in EY’s US Professional Practice Department and is based in McLean, VA. Josh specializes in public company audit matters, including the interpretation and application of the standards and guidance of the PCAOB.

Josh rejoined EY after serving more than three years on the staff of the SEC. As a former Senior Associate Chief Accountant in the SEC’s Office of the Chief Accountant, he specialized in the SEC’s guidance related to the evaluation of ICFR and auditing matters related to public companies. He also played a key role in many of the SEC’s activities with respect to its oversight of the PCAOB.

Josh spent one year as the Senior Director of Professional Practice, Policy & Research at the CAQ where he led the CAQ’s member services, professional practice, and public policy activities. He currently serves on the CAQ-AAA Auditing Section Access to Audit Personnel review committee.

Prior to serving on the staff of the SEC, Josh spent 10 years in public accounting where he performed audits of public and private companies of varying size, primarily in the consumer products industry.