HUD seeks CPAs for new positions.

HUD SEEKS CPAS FOR NEW POSITIONS

Applications are being considered for the new position of chief financial officer for the Department of Housing and Urban Development as well as for five senior comptrollers at HUD. Only CPAs are eligible for the six positions.

According to HUD Secretary Jack Kemp, the CFO and five comptrollers will help build a departmentwide structure for managing HUD's financial activities. "They will design appropriate checks and balances, give us the information and ability that we need to evaluate programs and management and keep our mission on track," said Kemp.

The new CFO position was part of a legislative package passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush last December, in the wake of the growing scandal concerning financial problems and irregularities at the department.

The CFO will serve at the assistant secretary level and report directly to Kemp; the comptrollers will report to a designated program assistant secretary.

Qualified applicants are being screened by an advisory peer review panel of accounting professionals, chaired by Gerald Riso, a former associate director for management at the Office of Management and Budget and the CFO for the U.S. government. Also serving on the panel will be B. Z. Lee, deputy chairman for federal affairs of the American Institute of CPAs.