FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                      99-163

         John M. Morrissey Named Deputy Chief Accountant

     Washington , DC, December 6, 1999 -- Securities and Exchange
Commission Chief Accountant Lynn E. Turner today named John M.
Morrissey Deputy Chief Accountant in the Office of the Chief
Accountant.  In this capacity, Mr. Morrissey and Ms. Jane Adams,
also Deputy Chief Accountant, will share responsibities for the
day-to-day operations of the Office, including resolution of
accounting and auditing practice issues, rulemaking projects, and
private sector standard setting efforts.  John will join the
Commission on January 10, 2000.

     Lynn Turner said, "I am delighted to have John join the
Office of the Chief Accountant.  As a partner at an accounting
firm and a senior accounting official in the corporate world,
John's background is broad and will be of great value to the
Commission."

     Prior to joining the SEC, Mr. Morrissey was Vice President
and General Auditor at Transamerica Corporation since 1997, where
he assessed the business and financial risks in the corporation
and designed an annual audit program that addressed those risks.
He was also responsible for issuing quarterly reports to the
Corporate Audit Committee of the Board of Directors at
Transamerica Corporation, as well as audit committee reports to
the subsidiary audit committees.  Before joining Transamerica
Corporation, Mr. Morrissey worked at Coopers & Lybrand (now
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP) from 1979 to 1997.  He was a partner
in their Internal Control and Business Risk Consulting Practice,
as well as in their General Audit Practice.

     Mr. Morrissey, 42, graduated with a B.S. from the University
of California at Berkeley.

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