NEWS RELEASE 01/23/07

Financial Accounting Foundation Reappoints Robert H. Herz as Chairman of Financial Accounting Standards Board

Norwalk, CT, January 23, 2007—Robert J. DeSantis, President and Chief Operating Officer of The Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF), today announced that Robert H. Herz has been reappointed to a second five-year term as Chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) commencing on July 1, 2007. One of the most respected figures in the world of financial reporting, Mr. Herz was initially appointed FASB Chairman on July 1, 2002.

Formerly PricewaterhouseCoopers Americas' Leader of Professional, Technical, Risk & Quality, and a member of the firm's Global and U.S. Boards, Chairman Herz also served as a part-time member of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). He is both a U.S. Certified Public Accountant and a U.K Chartered Accountant.

"We are delighted to announce the reappointment of Bob Herz as Chairman of the FASB," said Robert E. Denham, Chairman of the FAF Board of Trustees. "Initially appointed at one of the most challenging times in the history of our reporting system, Chairman Herz has helped lead the FASB's efforts to significantly improve the quality of financial information available to investors and the capital markets. The Board's projects on such critical accounting issues as share-based payment, defined benefit pension and other post retirement benefit plans, fair value measurement, and lease accounting are just a few examples of Bob and the FASB's tremendous commitment to its mission and the public interest."

Chairman Herz is a staunch champion of simplification and the need to reduce complexity in the financial reporting system. Accordingly, FASB has undertaken major initiatives to integrate and codify the massive volume of all current non-governmental accounting pronouncements into a single source, stem the proliferation of accounting pronouncements emanating from multiple sources, and develop standards in a more principles-based manner.

In 2002, Chairman Herz presided over FASB's historic Norwalk Agreement with the IASB, under which the two Boards agreed to work together to develop a common set of high quality, international accounting standards will better serve the global capital markets. Since that time, the Boards have made significant progress on numerous projects intended to improve the information provided to global investors by working to replace weaker standards with stronger, converged ones.

"During his tenure, Chairman Herz has also initiated a number of steps to improve FASB's processes to more effectively serve investors and the capital markets," added Mr. Denham. "These include actions to generate greater participation of investors and other users of financial information in the Board's standard setting processes; a focus on the needs of small, private and not-for-profit organizations; and further actions to more promptly address accounting and reporting issues without compromising the Board's independent due process."

A 53-year-old native of the New York City area, Mr. Herz also has lived in Argentina and England. He joined Price Waterhouse in 1974 upon graduating from the University of Manchester in England with a B.A. degree in economics. He later joined Coopers & Lybrand, becoming its senior technical partner in 1996 and assumed that position for the merged firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1998.

A veteran of 28 years in the accounting profession, Mr. Herz has served as audit partner for major clients in the financial services, manufacturing, and telecommunications industries. He also has led Coopers & Lybrand's corporate finance services practice, was a member of that firm's Partner Investment Committee, and served as President of the Coopers & Lybrand and PricewaterhouseCoopers' Foundations.

During his distinguished career, Mr. Herz has authored numerous publications on a variety of accounting, auditing, and business subjects. Included among those contributions is the book, The Value Reporting Revolution: Moving Beyond the Earnings Game, which he co-authored.

Among Mr. Herz's other activities, he chaired the AICPA SEC Regulations Committee and the Transnational Auditors Committee of the International Federation of Accountants, and served as a member of the Emerging Issues Task Force, the FASB Financial Instruments Task Force, the American Accounting Association's Financial Accounting Standards Committee, the SEC Practice Section Executive Committee of the AICPA, and the International Capital Markets Advisory Committee of the New York Stock Exchange.

About the Financial Accounting Foundation

The FAF is responsible for the oversight, administration, and finances of both the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and its counterpart for state and local government, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). The Foundation is also responsible for selecting the members of both Boards and their respective Advisory Councils.

About the Financial Accounting Standards Board

Since 1973, the Financial Accounting Standards Board has been the designated organization in the private sector for establishing standards of financial accounting and reporting. Those standards govern the preparation of financial reports and are officially recognized as authoritative by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Such standards are essential to the efficient functioning of the economy because investors, creditors, auditors, and others rely on credible, transparent, and comparable financial information. For more information about the FASB, visit our website at www.fasb.org.