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A FASB staff member and former KPMG partner, Lawrence W. Smith will begin his new job this summer. His appointment is the first since the SEC demanded more say in how FASB candidates are chosen.

Lawrence W. Smith, a 25-year veteran of KPMG, has been appointed to the Financial Accounting Standards Board to replace outgoing member Edward Trott.

He will serve a five-year term beginning July 1. Trott is retiring after seven and a half years with the board on June 30. Smith has been a member of the FASB staff for nearly five years. He is the director of technical application and implementation activities and chairman of the Emerging Issues Task Force.

The Financial Accounting Foundation announced Smith’s appointment on the heels of controversy surrounding FASB’s independence from the Securities and Exchange Commission. As reported by CFO.com, the SEC’s Office of the Chief Accountant recently refused to sign off on FASB’s 2007 budget until FAF, its parent organization, gave the SEC more say in the appointment of FASB members and FAF trustees.

In a March 9 memo to the SEC, the FAF agreed to a new process for the SEC to review FASB and FAF candidates. The memo stipulates that the SEC has the power to nominate and interview candidates. The SEC officially certified the FASB’s budget on March 14, a job it was given under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act when FASB’s funding source was switched from audit firms to fees from publicly-listed companies.

CFO.com: FASB Announces Trott’s Replacement