SAMUEL DIPIAZZA says it has been an interesting year, prefacing his observation with a wry smile and an acknowledgement that 'it's one of the great understatements'.
It is a typical comment for the avuncular American, who is evidently more the steady than the excitable type. One gets the impression he could discuss just about anything - corporate malfeasance, nuclear war, the World Series - in the same deliberate, even-handed manner, without ever raising the pitch of his soft Southern timbre or losing his equilibrium and descending into passion or irritability.
This is just as well, considering his job. Mr DiPiazza became chief executive of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the world's largest accounting firm, in January - a month after the bankruptcy of Enron plunged the United States accounting profession into its biggest crisis of confidence in his 30-year career. It is a situation that calls for a steady hand at the wheel.
'I knew this job would be demanding, because we were already moving down the path of restructuring our firm. I don't believe anyone expected the crisis of confidence that we've had to work through not only in the US but around the world,' he said.
'And so it has been a challenging year, but in many respects it's been very rewarding because I think we are re-inventing our profession and our firm . . . and to have the chance to be at the heart of that, it's great.'
PwC, with net revenues of US$13.8 billion the year to June 30 and 125,000 people in 142 countries, is the biggest of the big four global accounting firms. When Mr DiPiazza took the helm, it was the biggest of the big five, but the Enron scandal put paid to Arthur Andersen. PwC subsequently absorbed Andersen's practices in Hong Kong and China.