Statement 158 Live Teleconference Speakers
Karen L. Wiltsie
Partner, Accounting Standards and Communications
Deloitte & Touche LLP
Karen Wiltsie is a partner in Deloitte & Touche LLP’s National Office Accounting Standards and Communications Group. In this role, Karen is involved in the accounting standards setting process and develops communications to accounting professionals concerning interpretations of accounting standards. Prior to working in National Office, Karen was an audit partner in the Detroit office, and served as the accounting and auditing professional practice director for the firm’s Michigan offices, with responsibility for quality assurance, risk management and related professional practice matters.
She received her bachelor’s and MBA degrees from the University of Michigan, and is the recipient of the William A. Paton Award from the Michigan Association of CPAs for the highest score in Michigan on the CPA exam. Past affiliations include: past chair of the Michigan Association of CPAs, member of the AICPA’s governing council and one of Detroit’s 100 Most Influential Women by Crain’s Detroit Business.
Murray S. Akresh
Partner, Global Human Resource Solutions National Technical
Consulting Unit - New York
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Murray Akresh is a Partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers's Global Human
Resource Solutions National Technical Consulting Unit in New York. Murray
assists clients and practice personnel in better understanding the
financial, accounting and auditing implications of benefits and compensation
related issues. In this role, he provides insights and guidance on pension,
retiree health and postemployment benefit accounting, as well as accounting
for stock compensation arrangements. Murray has worked with both audit and
consulting clients on these issues.
Murray has specialized in pension accounting for over 20 years. Currently,
Murray is working with the FASB as author of the section on pensions and
other postretirement benefits in the FASB's project to develop a
codification of all accounting literature. Murray also was co-author of four
research studies on retiree health benefits, including the FEI Field Test.
He has been a frequent speaker on issues relating to retiree health benefits
and pension accounting and auditing as well as stock option issues, and has
authored various monographs and articles on these topics including articles
in Financial Executive, The CPA Journal and The Journal of Accountancy. He
led PwC’s major study on the potential impact of IAS 19, Employee Benefits.
Murray has been the leader of our FAS 123 and FAS 123R stock option modeling
practice for over 10 years and led PwC’s ground-breaking study, Stock
Options: Accounting, Valuation and Management Issues. He has been the
partner on numerous clients involving stock option modeling under FAS 123
and FAS 123R and in resolving complex technical issues involving FAS 123 and
FAS 123R. Murray was a coauthor of our Monograph on FAS 123R and played a
key role in PwC’s field test of the IASB’s new stock option accounting
rules.
Murray has been with the Firm for over 35 years. Murray was also an Audit
Manager with the Firm and National Accounting and SEC manager responsible
for formulating firm policy and technical communications regarding pensions
and other postemployment benefits.
Murray earned his M.B.A. and B.B.A. at Baruch College, City University of
New York, majoring in Accounting. He is a CPA and a member of the Financial
Executives International, the AICPA, and the New York State Society of CPAs.
Stephen A. Alpert
Principal and Consulting Actuary, Mercer
Vice-Chair, Pension Accounting Committee, American Academy of Actuaries
Steve Alpert is a principal and consulting actuary in Mercer's New York
office and, as a member of the firm's Actuarial Resource Network, works with
consultants worldwide on matters dealing with accounting for
retirement plans.
He is currently Vice-Chair of the American Academy of Actuaries' Pension
Accounting Committee and a member of its Pension Practice Council.
Steve is an Enrolled Actuary, a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and the
Conference of Consulting Actuaries, and a Member of the American Academy of
Actuaries.
Diana J. Scott, CPA
Principal and Consultant, Technical Services Group
Towers Perrin
Diana J. Scott is a Principal and Consultant in Towers Perrin's Technical
Services group, serving in a leadership capacity as a global resource on
accounting and financial reporting issues. In that role, Diana focuses on
postemployment and postretirement benefits, and other deferred compensation
and stock-based compensation arrangements, including the implications of
transactions and events affecting those costs and obligations. She also is
the Issue Leader on accounting topics for Canada and a key member of Towers
Perrin’s Benefits Accounting Standards Group – Europe. In those roles, she
provides accounting training and guidance, prepares issues papers addressing
the FAS and IFRS implications of benefits transactions, and consults with US
and non-US offices on accounting and financial reporting issues.
Diana maintains ongoing contact with the FASB, members of the EITF, the
Offices of the Chief Accountant and Corporation Finance of the SEC, and the
IASB, and monitors their activities relevant to the firm's practices in the
employee benefits and executive compensation areas. Diana is presently
serving on the IASB’s Employee Benefits Working Group. She served on the
FASB’s FAS 123R Implementation Issues Resource Group, and consults with the
IASB and FASB staff working on issues affecting the accounting for pensions
and other postretirement benefits.
Prior to joining Towers Perrin in 1991, Diana was a project manager on the
research and technical activities staff of the Financial Accounting
Standards Board for five years. Her primary responsibility was the research
and development of FASB Statement No. 106, Employers' Accounting for
Postretirement Benefits Other Than Pensions. Diana also consulted on
implementation issues relating to the pension accounting requirements of
FASB Statements No. 87 and 88.
Prior to joining the FASB, Diana was a senior audit manager in the national
office of Price Waterhouse. In that capacity, Diana consulted with the
firm's partners and managers on accounting issues and created reference and
continuing education materials. She also spent several years in the
Pittsburgh office managing multi-national audit engagements.
Diana has co-authored chapters on accounting for pensions and postretirement
benefits other than pensions in the Corporate Controllers Handbook. She also
has written several articles and spoken frequently on compensation- and
benefits-related accounting issues.
Diana received her Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration from
Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. She is a certified public
accountant and a member of the American Institute of CPAs.
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