The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Michael F. Maloney, Chief Accountant of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, is planning to leave the agency next month.
Since February 2014, Mr. Maloney has led the Division’s Office of Chief Accountant, providing advice, consultation, and support on all of the Division’s accounting, auditing, and financial reporting enforcement matters. He has provided leadership and support to the Division’s approximately 100 accountants through advice, guidance, and involvement on individual enforcement matters as well as facilitating communication, knowledge sharing, and training on emerging issues. In addition, Mr. Maloney has worked on significant policy issues within the Division and with other Commission staff including the SEC’s Office of the Chief Accountant and the Division of Corporation Finance, and he has played a leadership role in the Division’s coordination with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s enforcement program.
“Mike has been a trusted advisor to the Division in accounting, auditing, and reporting matters,” said Stephanie Avakian, Co-Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division. “As the Division’s Chief Accountant, Mike has brought significant expertise and insight to the SEC’s financial fraud investigations. His leadership and integrity have been tremendous assets in our fight against financial fraud, and we will miss his sage advice in these matters.”
Mr. Maloney said, “It has been the honor of my career to work with the incredibly talented and dedicated enforcement accountants and attorneys who work every day to protect investors on the Division’s complex and challenging financial reporting matters. I am very proud of the results that the Division has achieved on financial reporting matters over the past four years.”
During Mr. Maloney’s tenure as the Division’s Chief Accountant, the SEC has brought financial reporting enforcement actions addressing a wide range of misconduct, including:
- Weatherford International and two senior executives for fraudulently inflating earnings reported to investors by using deceptive income tax accounting
- Penn West Petroleum Ltd. and three top finance executives for defrauding investors through an allegedly extensive, multi-year accounting fraud that moved hundreds of millions of dollars in expenses from operating expenses to capital accounts
- Monsanto Company and three executives for failing to recognize millions of dollars of expenses associated with rebates for a flagship product in the period in which they occurred, resulting in materially misstated earnings over three years
- ITT Educational Services and two senior executives for allegedly fraudulently concealing from investors the poor performance and looming financial impact of two student loan programs that ITT financially guaranteed
- Proceedings against BDO USA and five of its partners, Grant Thornton LLP and two of its partners, Ernst & Young LLP and two of its partners, and KPMG LLP and one of its partners for professional failures in audits of clients that faced SEC actions
- Ernst &Young LLP and three of its partners for auditor independence violations due to close personal relationships between auditors and client personnel
Mr. Maloney joined the SEC from Navigant Consulting Inc., where he was a managing director and led the firm’s forensic accounting practice. He was previously a partner at Arthur Andersen LLP. His experience includes performing complex forensic investigations of accounting, auditing, financial reporting, and other fraud matters, providing expert witness support and services, and performing and supervising financial statement audits at public and private entities in a variety of industries. Mr. Maloney earned his B.S. in Accountancy with high honors from the University of Illinois.