The Changing Landscape of Financial Reporting

Taking Stock and Looking Forward

Wesley Bricker and Lawrence Smith

About the SpeakersWesley Bricker serves as the chief accountant for the SEC's Office of the Chief Accountant (OCA). The accounting group advises the SEC on accounting and auditing matters and works closely with private sector accounting bodies such as FASB. Bricker was previously the OCA's deputy chief accountant. Before joining the SEC, he was a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he was responsible for clients in the banking, capital markets, financial technology, and investment management sectors.Lawrence Smith served as a Board Member of FASB from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2017. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Smith spent five years as FASB's director of technical application and implementation activities. In this role, he managed FASB activities related to application and implementation issues and served as chairman of its Emerging Issues Task Force (EITF). Before joining FASB, he spent 25 years at KPMG, 20 of them as a partner.Bricker and Smith presented the opening remarks at Baruch College's 16th Annual Financial Reporting Conference, held on May 4, 2017. The following is an edited transcript of their remarks. The views expressed are their own and not necessarily those of the SEC, FASB, the commissioners, or the staff.