Former Deloitte South Africa consultant appointed Chief Auditor at PCAOB

Megan Zietsman , a former consultant at Deloitte South Africa, has been appointed the new Chief Auditor and Director of Professional Standards at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) in Washington. She will begin at her new position effective from early next year.

Zietsman has over three decades of experience in auditing. She has an academic background in accounting from Rhodes University in Grahamstown, following which she joined Big Four accounting and advisory firm Deloitte in their South Africa practice. She has remained at Deloitte ever since.

She moved to Deloitte’s New York division in 1994, where she was a part of the firm’s International Operations Group for a four-year spell before moving to its Transaction Services group. Since 2000, she has been a Partner at Deloitte, overseeing its standard-setting practice in the audit division.

She will now put these skills to use in her new role as the Chief Auditor and Director of Professional Standards at PCAOB, where her responsibilities are set to be comprehensive in scope. She replaces Barbara Vanich, who has held been the interim Chief Auditor since the position was vacated six months ago.

Alongside the development of standards for the domestic auditing community, Zietsman will be tasked with offering interpretations of international audit standards to ensure compliance from local firms as well as international firms that have practices in the US.

Standards set under her will also apply to audits conducted by brokers affiliated with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). To manage this aspect of her role, she will be tasked with attending meetings at the SEC, in addition to meetings with the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board.

Zietsman will also attend meetings with the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants. Lastly, she will play the role of representative for the PCAB with investors and auditors with respect to disemminating and elucidating the research conducted by PCAOB.

Commenting on her appointment, she said, “Effective standard-setting is critical to the PCAOB’s ability to fulfill its mission, and I appreciate the opportunity to work with the board to enhance auditing standards and increase outreach to stakeholders throughout the process.”

Consultants beginning their career at Deloitte South Africa appear to be making great strides across major financial markets. In October, a former consultant at Deloitte South Africa was appointed an analyst at London-based KW Wealth.