Rene Herman is a Senior Project Manager at the Australian Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AUASB). She is responsible for the planning, research, development and delivery of auditing and assurance standards and related guidance forming part of the AUASB strategy and corporate plan. Rene's primary areas of focus at the AUASB is on Australian Auditing Standards and related guidance in relation to historical financial information, with her current area of focus being on coordinating and cooperating effectively with regulators.

Prior to joining the AUASB Rene held the position of Executive Director at Ernst and Young where she was the executive responsible for the risk management, execution and delivery of external audit engagements. Her experience is across a diverse range of industries in the private, public and government sectors from SMEs to the largest Corporations in Australia.

Rene studied at the University of Cape Town and is a member of the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.

Listen to the IAASB's webinars on the challenges and possible actions that the IAASB is exploring it its current Consultation Paper, which is open for public comment until September 12, 2019. 

In Japan on his first overseas trip as IAASB Chair, Tom Seidenstein sat down with the president of the Japanese Institute of CPAs, Aiko Sekine, to discuss Japan’s importance to international audit and assurance standard setting. Check out the interview!

Listen to IAASB member and Task Force Chair, Marek Grabowski, discuss the extended external reporting (EER) Consultation Paper that includes the first part of the draft guidance for practitioners applying International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000 (Revised), Assurance Engagements Other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information,&n

Tom Seidenstein is the chair of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board and the co-CEO of the International Foundation for Ethics and Audit, the recently created organization that houses the IAASB and the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA). Since the beginning of 2023, he has served as co-CEO with IESBA Chair Gabriela Figueiredo Dias.

Mr. Seidenstein was initially appointed chair in July 2019 and reappointed to a three-year term in June 2022. In this role, and now as co-CEO, he has overseen significant revisions of existing audit standards aimed at enhancing public trust, the initiation of a new workstream aimed at creating a global assurance standard for sustainability, and an updated strategy aimed at increasing the responsiveness of standard setting.

Mr. Seidenstein’s career has spanned both the private sector and international standard setting. Prior to joining the IAASB, Mr. Seidenstein held senior strategic leadership positions at the Federal National Mortgage Association, commonly known as Fannie Mae (Senior Vice President, Strategy, Innovation & Capital Management: 2012-19), and the IFRS Foundation (Chief Operating Officer: 2000-2011).

Additionally, Mr. Seidenstein has served at a consulting organization for not-for-profits, CCS Fundraising (Executive Director: 1999-2000), and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (Special Assistant to the Managing Director: 1995-1997). He has also served as a Trustee of the International Valuation Standards Council (IVSC) and on XBRL International’s Board of Advisors.

A strong believer in volunteer service, Mr. Seidenstein has held or holds volunteer leadership positions serving school education the USA and the Make-A-Wish Foundation (both UK and international boards). He holds a Master’s in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and an undergraduate degree (cum laude) from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

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