Guidelines for Implementing the PCAOB

Keith Wilson, CPA, is Deputy Chief Auditor for the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) in Washington, D.C. He works in the Office of the Chief Auditor, assisting in the development of auditing and related professional practice standards. While at the PCAOB, Mr. Wilson has led a number of standards-related projects. Most recently, Mr. Wilson was the leader of the project team that assisted the Board in developing the suite of risk assessment standards. 

Before joining the PCAOB, Mr. Wilson was Senior Director of Product Development and co-leader of the Accounting and Auditing publications group at Practitioners Publishing Company (PPC), where he co-authored several guides on audit and attest engagements. Before that, Mr. Wilson was with Grant Thornton.

Mr. Wilson is a certified public accountant in Texas.

Jan is a Director in BDO’s National Assurance Department in New York City and has more than 20 years experience in public accounting. 

She is responsible for monitoring the development of auditing standards of domestic and international standard setting bodies. In this capacity, Jan develops implementation guidance and training materials and responds to questions from assurance personnel on various auditing and reporting matters. 

Jan is a member of the AICPA and NYSSCPA. She is currently the chairperson of the Auditing Standards Committee of the NYSSCPA and a member of the International Accounting and Auditing Committee of the NYSSCPA.

Jeffrey F. Robertson is a special counsel in the Washington, D.C. office of Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, where he represents clients in high-stakes securities enforcement and litigation matters including SEC investigations and enforcement actions, securities class actions, shareholder derivative suits and other civil litigation and arbitrations, FINRA and PCAOB investigations (including the engagement partner for a Big Four accounting firm in the first-ever contested PCAOB disciplinary action) and criminal inquiries. Jeff also conducts internal investigations and advises clients on compliance matters. 

Recognized by The Best Lawyers in America, a listing of the top attorneys in the U.S. by practice area, Jeff received his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and Legal Research and Writing Editor for the Columbia Human Rights Law Review, and was awarded his B.A., summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Tennessee. He is widely published on securities enforcement and litigation topics, including such recent articles as “PCAOB Proposes New Confirmation Standard to Reduce Risk of Financial Statement Inaccuracy,” “Tougher PCAOB Enforcement Agenda Ahead,” “PCAOB Strategic Goals and Budget Foreshadow Tougher Enforcement Agenda,” and “Defending PCAOB Investigations and Enforcement Actions.”

Phil Wedemeyer is a partner in the National Professional Standards Group of Grant Thornton LLP, the US member firm of Grant Thornton International. 

Since joining the firm in August 2007, he has been involved in various aspects of the firm’s participation in the SEC’s Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting (CIFiR), the Center for Audit Quality, the AICPA and the American Accounting Association. He is also a member of the firm’s risk management committee and is a member of the AICPA’s Auditing Standards Board and the Standards Working Group of the Global Public Policy Committee. 

Immediately prior to joining Grant Thornton, Wedemeyer was the Director of the Office of Research and Analysis of the PCAOB. This office is responsible for developing techniques for assessing audit risk and performing other research to support the board’s activities. He initially joined the PCAOB in November 2003 as a member of the Division of Registrations and Inspections. As a Deputy Director in that division, Wedemeyer formed and managed a risk analysis group, developed strategies for inspections of smaller audit firms, developed and supervised a special team of inspectors to perform the initial inspections of internal control audits and reviewed and provided technical auditing and accounting advice to inspection teams. He was also active in the planning and conduct of the PCAOB’s academic symposium.

Richard H. Gesseck is a Partner in the Firm’s Glastonbury, Connecticut office. He has played a key role in several significant merger and acquisition transactions, registration statements, comfort letters, communications with the SEC, “going private” transactions, and solving numerous technical A&A and SEC issues. In addition, he has served as the Lead Audit Partner to numerous registrants. A frequent speaker, Mr. Gesseck has served as a conference leader and presented to several industry and professional organizations, including MasterCard International, BET Networks and Discovery Communications