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10
business finance
november/december 2009
EvEn aftEr
a Darien, Connecticut, priest was con- victed of stealing up to $1.4 million in donations fromhis parish, few church officials could have imaginedthe possibility of Connecticut lawmakers introducing abill to remove control of parish finances from RomanCatholic bishops.Nevertheless, when Bill 1098 was introduced intothe Connecticut General Assembly last March, the dio-cese of Bridgeport was ready for battle. Back in 2006,having sensed the outrage of his flock over the brazentheft, Bishop William E. Lori had appointed a specialfinances task force (composed of three priests andthree lay members) to define the finance best practicesthat would help the pastors of 87 parishes elevate theirfinancial controls. As each task force member’s resumewas rich in finance experience, they formed an impres-sive financial round table.However, no one’s portfolio could match the sin-gular credentials of task force member Philip Ameen,a 58-year-old layperson who for the past 12 years hadserved as principal accountant and comptroller forthe General Electric Company — a role that requiredthe churchgoer to routinely sign off on the company’sfinancial statements, which in 2006 tracked the where-abouts of $163 billion in revenue.Little known to his fellow task force members,Ameen was then engaged in the biggest battle of hisprofessional career — one that pitted the U.S. govern-ment against General Electric. It was a battle not dis-similar to the one that Bishop Lori would soon enter— at least, perhaps, from the point of view of Ameen,an executive known to keep a cautious eye on the reachof government.In the end, the Catholic Church would declare adecisive victory when Connecticut lawmakers beat ahasty retreat (the bill was withdrawn). As for GeneralElectric, the final chapter remains a little fuzzy.This past August, GE agreed to pay $50 million tosettle a suit filed by the U.S. Securities and ExchangeCommission, which said that the company had repeat-edly used accounting tricks to pump up its earningsearly in this decade.“The SEC complaint against General Electric is anX-rated complaint — don’t show it to the children.What GE did is that bad!” says Walter Schuetze, whoserved during the first Bush administration as chief accountant for the SEC and who has known Ameensince the late 1970s, when the two men worked from
coverstory
www.businessfinancemag.com
 Jack Sweeneyis dit i iff
Business Finance 
.
 g a  r y f l e t  c he  r 
By Jack Sweeney
 
11
november/december 2009
business finance
the NYC offices of Peat Marwick (now KPMG). “Ihope that GE’s X-rated movie will be the final chapteron earnings management,” Schuetze adds, evoking theaccounting treatment that in relation to GE has untilrecently been acknowledged by a wink rather than thespoken word.Just exactly what the SEC settlement has brought anend to, however, remains a matter for debate. For itspart, GE agreed to pay the fine without admitting to ordenying the SEC allegations. Perhaps, if nothing else, theinvestigation helped to bring an end to Ameen’s career.Or did it?While
The Wall Street Journal 
reported that the SECinvestigation helped to contribute to Ameen’s 2008retirement, GE spokespeople have denied that one hadanything to do with the other. And then there’s the everoutspoken Ameen himself.“I suspect that you haven’t heard the last of me yet,”he recently said when asked whether his retirement waslikely to keep him on the sidelines when it comes to hiscareer — not as GE’s comptroller, but in the realm of accounting standards-setting.
The company he kepT: I 2006, FaF tst pii a s sidig t t  t f t tig stdds-stts’ id fif, s  Sec istigti b d  Ge’s tig tds.
Elevating confidencein thecapital markets, empowering investorsand f ostering theaccountability of state andlocalgovernments bysetting thestandard f orstandards setting.
F inancial Accounting F oundation 
2006AnnualReport
Setting the Standard for Standards Setting
 
The sixteen-member Board of Trust-ees is comprised of highly experi-enced professionals from business,finance, academia, and government.The Trustees are responsible forthe oversight, administration, andfinances of both the FASB andGASB, as well as selecting themembers of both Boards and theirrespective advisory councils, theFASAC and GASAC.
 W. Steve Albrecht (1)
is AssociateDean and Andersen Professor at theMarriott School of Management,Brigham Young University. Mr. Albre-cht has been a Trustee since 2005and was nominated by the AmericanAccounting Association. He serves onthe FAF’s Finance, Personnel Policies,and Strategic Planning Committees.
Philip D. Ameen (2)
is the VicePresident and Comptroller of GeneralElectric Company. Mr. Ameen hasbeen a Trustee since 2005 and wasnominated by Financial ExecutivesInternational. He serves on the FAF’sAppointments and Evaluations andAudit Committees.
Rick Anderson (3)
is the Chairmanof Moss Adams, LLP. Mr. Andersonhas been a Trustee since 2005 andwas nominated by the AmericanInstitute of Certified Public Accoun-tants. He serves on the FAF’s Audit,Personnel Policies, and StrategicPlanning Committees.
Robert T. Blakely (4)
 is theExecutive Vice President and ChiefFinancial Officer of Fannie Mae. Mr.Blakely has been an at-large Trusteesince 2007. He serves on the FAF’sPersonnel Policies and StrategicPlanning Committees.
Ellyn L. Brown (5)
is the Principal ofBrown & Associates. Ms. Brown hasbeen an at-large Trustee since 2007.She serves on the FAF’s Appoint-ments and Evaluations and FinanceCommittees.
Robert E. Denham (6)
is a partnerwith Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP. Mr.Denham has been an at-large Trusteesince 2003 and has been Chairmansince 2004. He is the Chair of theFAF’s Executive Committee and theChair of the FAF’s Strategic PlanningCommittee.
Douglas R. Ellsworth (7)
 is theDirector of Finance for the Village ofSchaumburg, Illinois. Mr. Ellsworthhas been a Trustee since 2000 andwas elected by the GovernmentFinance Officers Association and theNational Association of State Audi-tors, Comptrollers and Treasurers. Heis the Chair of the FAF’s PersonnelPolicies Committee, and also serveson the Executive, Appointmentsand Evaluations, and DevelopmentCommittees.
Timothy P. Flynn (8)
is the Chairmanand CEO of KPMG LLP. Mr. Flynnhas been a Trustee since 2005 andwas nominated by the AmericanInstitute of Certified Public Accoun-tants. He serves on the FAF’sAudit, Development, and StrategicPlanning Committees.
FAF TrusteesThe FAF’s sixteen-member Board of Trustees is comprised of highly experienced professionals frombusiness, finance, academia, and government.
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12
business finance
november/december 2009
coverstory
www.businessfinancemag.com
Lord of thE rings:
Ameen’s Circles of Influence
“I’m really interested in the transition to interna-tional standards. It is the mecca that we all have beenseeking, and I’d like to contribute to that in one way oranother,” said Ameen, who did just that last April whenhe responded to an SEC request for comments on itsProposed Road Map for the adoption of InternationalFinancial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Having doggedly applied his name to hundreds of letters designed toalternately block and clear the path for accounting stan-dards, Ameen’s April comment letter is distinctive inlight of the fact that it is not authored by Philip Ameen,the comptroller of America’s most admired company,but rather Philip Ameen, the private citizen. (Ameen’sreplacement, current GE comptroller Jamie S. Miller,had filed her own comment letter with the SEC eightdays earlier.)While SEC enforcers may like to take credit for dis-placing GE’s comptroller, it would not come as a sur-prise to many who know him if Ameen views thingsthe other way around. Says Ameen: “The financialworld is no longer just the U.S., and it’s going to bea major adjustment, in my view, for the SEC to finda role other than the final authority role. I think thathow that finally adjusts is going to be very interesting
Member, FASB’s EITFMember,FASB’s Task Force onBusiness CombinationsMember,FASB’s Task Forceon DerivativesImplementationMember,American AccountingAssociation’sCorporateAccounting PolicySeminars CommitteeChairman,FEI’s Committeeon CorporateReporting
tefasB
Chairman,FEI’s AIMRSubcommitteeMember,FEI SECSubcommitteeChairman,AICPAInternationalAccounting StandardsAdvisory CommitteeMember,AICPA AccountingStandards ExecutiveCommitteeTrustee,FinancialAccountingFoundation
During the time he served as GE’s principal accountant and comptroller, Philip Ameen snatched up membership positionson an expansive list of boards, committees, and task forces, all of which shared one thing in common: A desire to influencethe FASB.
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