Understanding the Current Status Of “Mark-to-Market” Accounting Standards

JENIFER MINKE-GIRARD is a Senior Associate Chief Accountant in the Office of the Chief Accountant (OCA) at the SEC and is co-leader of OCA’s technical accounting staff. As the SEC’s technical body on U.S. and international financial reporting matters, OCA is responsible for overseeing the activities of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and its designees, monitoring the activities of international accounting standard setters, and consulting with registrants, auditors and SEC staff regarding complex financial reporting issues. Ms. Minke-Girard is responsible for the processes related to oversight and monitoring of the activities of the FASB and the International Accounting Standards Board on major projects. She joined OCA in November 1998.

Ms. Minke-Girard’s prior experience includes financial accounting and reporting for an SEC registrant, and working as the controller of a small software publishing company. She began her career in public accounting with Price Waterhouse in St. Louis, MO, later transferring to Price Waterhouse’s Washington, DC office.

Ms. Minke-Girard holds a BSBA degree from Washington University in St. Louis and an MSFS degree from Georgetown University. She is a member of the AICPA.

Richard D. Jones is a partner and a member of the executive committee of Dechert’s Finance and Real Estate group. He focuses his practice on mortgage finance and capital markets. Mr. Jones was designated as a leading lawyer for real estate in the 2005-2008 editions of Chambers USA, a referral guide to leading lawyers in the United States based on the opinions of their peers and clients and by the quality of their work. Mr. Jones was designated “one of the savviest capital markets / mortgage finance lawyers in America’s real estate sector” by the 2007 edition of The Legal 500 (U.S.). He was also listed as a leading lawyer for capital markets in New York in the 2008 edition of The Legal 500 (U.S.). Mr. Jones was recently the recipient of CMSA’s Founders Award for his role in moving the CMSA into a strong advocacy role over the past few years, including the formation of the CMSA PAC. Mr. Jones is a regular author and speaker on a wide range of issues affecting mortgage finance and the capital markets. Mr. Jones is a member of the American Bar Association; past president of the Commercial Mortgage Securities Association (CMSA); a founder and governor of the Commercial Real Estate Institute (CRI); a member and past governor of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers where he chairs its Capital Markets Committee; a former member of the Commercial Mortgage Board of Governors (COMBOG) of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, where he currently chairs its Legislative and Regulatory Committee; and a member of The Real Estate Roundtable, serving on its Capital and Credit Policy Advisory Committee.

Education
Washington and Lee University, B.S., magna cum laude, 1975 University of Virginia School of Law, J.D., 1978 Boston University School of Law, LL.M., 1981

Bar Admissions
Member, Pennsylvania, New York, and Connecticut Bars

He has nearly 40 years of experience in various aspects of international financial reporting. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in the UK while working with Peat Marwick Mitchell.

By 1980, he had held various senior financial positions in Brussels and in Italy. In those positions, he had responsibility for financial reporting in various European countries including Belgium, France, Greece, Italy and Portugal.

From 1980, he was with Citicorp, which operates in over 100 countries, first as chief accounting officer and then as principal financial officer. Before joining the IASB he served successively as a vice-chairman and member of the Executive Committee of the IASC Board (1998-2000) and as Chairman (2000-1). From 1995 to 2001 he was an IASC Board member representing the International Association of Financial Executives Institutes. He also served as:

• a Trustee of the Financial Accounting Foundation, which oversees the activities of the US Financial
  Accounting Standards Board (FASB)
• Chairman of the Financial Executive Institute’s Corporate Reporting Committee, and
• a member of the FASB’s Emerging Issues Task Force.

Sergey Volkov is a director in the PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Structured Finance: Capital Markets Accounting Advisory Services practice. This practice advises companies on current accounting issues, developments, and the application of accounting standards. Sergey provides accounting advice on structured transactions, derivatives, transfers of financial assets, securitizations, financings and other issues. He also supports banking and other financial services clients with technical accounting support with implementing new accounting standards. Sergey has a strong background in financial services products and structures. His clients include investment and retail banks, private equity firms and insurance companies.

Since November 2006, Sergey has focused on supporting numerous audit and non-audit clients with Fair Value accounting (FAS 157 and FAS 159) implementation and complex valuation projects. The projects included investment banks early adopting the standards, retail and mortgage banking institutions, insurance companies and asset management companies. Sergey has also worked closely with a number of pricing services, supporting the client Fair Value accounting documentation efforts.

Sergey is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder. He maintains active CPA licenses in Washington DC and Virginia. Sergey is an active member of AICPA, CFA Institute, and Washington DC Society of Investment Analysts. Sergey also sits on CFA Institute Centre Corporate Policy Disclosure Council.