Leslie F. Seidman was the guest lecturer in Professor Tan’s ECO 79584 Masters Data Analytics for Accounting and Finance Course on Tuesday, October 29, 2020.
Leslie F. Seidman is an independent corporate director with over 30 years of experience in the accounting profession. Ms. Seidman serves as a member of the board of directors and chair of the audit committees of General Electric Company (GE: NYSE) and Moody’s Corporation (MCO: NYSE). She is also an advisor to idaciti, Inc., a cloud-based analytical platform for structured financial data. She recently completed two terms as a Public Governor for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
Ms. Seidman is the immediate past Chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), where she also served as a member of the Board from 2003-2013. As FASB Chairman, Ms. Seidman collaborated with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, and other regulators to improve financial reporting in the U.S. capital markets. She helped launch the FASB’s Private Company Council, to address concerns about the cost and complexity of accounting for small businesses. Ms. Seidman guided the FASB’s joint agenda with the International Accounting Standards Board to converge U.S. and international financial reporting standards. Ms. Seidman represented the U.S. in the International Forum of Accounting Standard Setters and was an Observer to the International Integrated Reporting Council. During her tenure, the FASB assumed responsibility for maintaining the XBRL U.S. GAAP taxonomy, which is now fully integrated with the standard-setting process.
Previously, Ms. Seidman was an auditor with Arthur Young & Co. (now EY), a Vice President of Accounting Policy with J.P. Morgan & Co., and a financial reporting consultant. Ms. Seidman is the original author of Financial Instruments: A Comprehensive Guide to Accounting and Reporting (currently in its 16th edition from Wolters Kluwer).
A recognized expert in accounting, Ms. Seidman was the recipient of the 2015 Distinguished Service Award from the Institute of Management Accountants, for launching and continuing to support the Women’s Accounting Leadership Series. She was been ranked among the Top 10 Most Influential People in Accounting by Accounting Today, named to the NACD Directorship 100 for Governance, was identified as one of the most influential corporate directors by Women, Inc, and was inducted into the Accounting Hall of Fame in 2020.
Ms. Seidman earned an M.S. in accounting from New York University Stern School of Business and a B.A. in English from Colgate University. She is a CPA and is certified in cybersecurity oversight by the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.
