Portrait of the Accountant as Regulator

Here's a profile by of the SEC's chief accountant, Conrad W. Hewitt, which appears in today's Washington Post. Hewitt, 70, says the position is providing him with a nice way to "cap his career."

The previous occupant of the chief accountant's office, Donald T. Nicolaisen, was a veteran partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers who made a name for himself by mastering accounting policies for sophisticated financial contracts known as derivatives. Nicolaisen had worked in the prestigious national office of his former accounting firm, where he fielded difficult technical and ethics questions. By contrast, Hewitt spent his last years at Ernst managing personnel and ensuring that clients were satisfied.

Dennis R. Beresford, a professor at the University of Georgia and one of Hewitt's first supervisors in the 1960s, said, "Lots of people can do accounting, but if you can't allocate your resources properly and keep clients reasonably happy with your services, it's hard to make any money."

A Businessman Who Keeps the Books [Washington Post]