FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                             2000-34

  Office of the Chief Accountant Selects Five Professional
                     Accounting Fellows

     Washington, DC, March 15, 2000 -- The Securities and
Exchange Commission's Office of the Chief Accountant
recently selected E. Michael Pierce, David A. Kane, and R.
Scott Blackley to serve as Professional Accounting Fellows
for two-year terms beginning in June 2000 and Michael S.
Thompson and Carina A. Canedo to serve as Professional
Accounting Fellows for two-year terms beginning in November
2000.  Currently, Messrs. Pierce and Blackley are Senior
Managers in KPMG LLP's Department of Professional Practice
in New York, and Mr. Kane is a Manager in Ernst & Young's
National Accounting Office in New York.  Mr. Thompson is a
Senior Manager from Deloitte & Touche LLP in the Columbus,
Ohio practice office and Ms. Canedo is a
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Senior Manager in the Columbus,
Ohio practice office.   Messrs. Pierce, Kane, Blackley,
Thompson and Ms. Canedo will join the current Professional
Accounting Fellows -- Mr. Scott Taub and Mr. Dominick
Ragone.  Messrs. Pierce, Kane, Blackley will replace
outgoing Professional Accounting Fellows Mr. Eric W. Casey,
Mr. Paul R. Kepple and Mr. Pascal Desroches.   Mr. Thompson
and Ms. Canedo will replace Mr. Richard Rodgers and Mr. Eric
Jacobsen.
     
     At the Commission, the newly selected Professional
Accounting Fellows will work with the Chief Accountant and
will be involved in the study and development of rule
proposals under the federal securities laws, liaison with
the professional accounting and auditing standards-setting
bodies, and consultation with registrants on accounting and
reporting matters. "The Professional Accounting Fellowship
Program, which began in 1972, has been a tremendous success.
The Fellows are outstanding accountants who bring to the
Commission a fresh perspective and foster better
communications between the Commission and the private
sector.  Certainly my experience as a PAF has had a profound
impact on my professional development," said Lynn E. Turner,
Chief Accountant, who participated in the PAF program from
1989 to 1991.

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