AccountAbility Board Member, Bob Herz, wins ICAEW’s Outstanding Achievement Award

AccountAbility Board Member and former chairman of the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), Bob Herz, was presented with the Outstanding Achievement Award in London on March 19th at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales’ (ICAEW) annual dinner in London. Herz is the 40th ICAEW member to be given the award since it was set up in 1980.

Herz received the prestigious annual award in recognition of “his global leadership in seeking closer international harmonization and improvements in accounting, financial reporting, and reporting of sustainability and other key non-financial performance information, helping businesses to present their performance with clarity for the benefit of the capital markets.”

Commenting on his award, Herz said that he was “very proud and honored to be recognized by the Institute for my contribution to the profession”.
“Since becoming a chartered accountant 45 years ago, I have thoroughly enjoyed everything about the job and to have all my hard work acknowledged puts the cherry on top of a fantastic career.

“Accountancy has opened so many doors for me professionally and I have had so many amazing experiences.”

Herz qualified as a chartered accountant with Price Waterhouse and later moved to the US where he worked for competitor firm Coopers & Lybrand. He became its senior technical partner and continued in the role after the two firms merged. At the same time, he joined the fledgling International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and became involved in setting standards for the first time.

A year later, he left PwC and joined the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), serving as its chairman for more than eight years. He described his time there as “among the most professionally challenging and personally satisfying of my career”.

More recently, Herz has served on the boards of directors and various board committees of several companies, including Fannie Mae and Morgan Stanley, as well as the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, the advisory boards of AccountAbility and the Manchester Business School.