Part 7 of 10
In honor of Black History Month, NCACPA would like to celebrate the diverse individuals who contributed to the success of the accounting profession and the association. Please join us in recognizing these trailblazers through a 10-part series of posts being published throughout February.
By D. Scott Showalter, CPA, CGMA, CGFM, Immediate Past Chair, NCACPA Board
The individuals highlighted in this series of posts represent minorities and have all made significant contributions to the accounting profession during their careers despite the many challenges they faced.
I’ll introduce everyone by asking a question that describes their respective contribution. I apologize in advance for any factual inaccuracies in this article. While researching, I ran across conflicting dates and proofs, settling on the facts that seem best supported. Either way, I don’t think it distracts from their significant accomplishments.
Who was the first CEO of the Financial Accounting Foundation? She earned a B.A. degree, summa cum laude, in accounting and French from St. Francis College in Loretto, Pennsylvania, in 1982. She is a certified public accountant in the state of Pennsylvania. In 2010, this individual was named president and CEO of the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF), an independent, private sector organization responsible for the oversight, administration, and finances of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), and its advisory councils. She was the first person to hold the title of CEO in the FAF’s 38-year history. She first joined the organization in 1987 as a technical associate for the FASB from Arthur Andersen and Company, where she was a senior accountant. She moved over to the FAF as controller in 1990 and returned to the FASB as executive director of advisory groups in 1999. She was then named president of FAF in 2008. This person also served as a trustee of St. Francis University (Pennsylvania). Who is she? Her name is Teresa S. (Terri) Polley.