2004's Influencers: 60 You Need To Know

Here's our annual roundup of the regulators, watchdogs, corporate leaders and academics who are shaping the future of accounting and finance.

Among the dozen definitions of the word "influence," one of the early meanings -- an emanation of spiritual or moral force derived from the stars -- best describes the forces now shaping the difficult-to-read U.S. accounting and financial reporting environment. In our increasingly complex corporate universe, a cluster of stars are helping brighten the fuzzy future. These individuals, whom we've designated "influencers," promise to hold sway in the coming year, when new rules and principles will become grounded in practice.

As corporate finance and accounting professionals confront major questions over the next 12 months, no earthly body promises to dissolve more of the nerve-wracking ambiguity than the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). But our star search doesn't end there. Key players at a slew of acronymic organizations -- among them, the SEC, FASB, FEI, IIA, and (on a more ominous note) the DOJ -- will certainly influence the finance profession in 2004, as will familiar personalities including Warren Buffett, Eliot Spitzer and Paul Sarbanes. At the same time, a handful of lesser-known individuals, such as the heads of the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations and the FASB's Emerging Issues Task Force, continue to illustrate a subtler definition of the term "influence" by producing an effect without an obvious exertion of force.

The Business Finance editorial team has identified 60 people whom we expect to have a noticeable impact on the U.S. accounting and financial reporting environment in 2004 and beyond. This is our second annual influencers list. Last year's selections contained many hits and at least one interesting miss. Although we were right about the importance of William J. McDonough, then the Second District Federal Reserve Bank president, our call that he "probably isn't leaving his post anytime soon" was well off target. He now chairs the PCAOB. Business Finance will continue to chart the moves of McDonough and his fellow influencers as we turn to them for insight on finance matters throughout 2004.