Gaylen Hansen

Gaylen R. Hansen became Chair of the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants’ (IESBA) Consultative Advisory Group (CAG) in July 2019. 

Mr. Hansen retired as an audit partner of Plante Moran in 2018 following over forty years of engagement in the accounting profession.  His career has encompassed lengthy periods in public practice as an auditor and quality control partner, and briefly as the controller of a small private company that went public during his tenure.  He has been a sole practitioner and an audit manager with Arthur Andersen and later Price Waterhouse.  Since 2010, he has represented the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) on the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board’s Consultative Advisory Group (CAG).  Since 2016, he has served on the AICPA’s Auditing Standards Board, which promulgates practice standards for the audits of all U.S. non-issuers. 

Previously he served as a chair of NASBA and served on the Colorado State Board of Accountancy, which regulates and disciplines all of the state’s certified public accountants and their firms.  He has also served on the AICPA’s Professional Ethics Committee (PEEC) that establishes and enforces the ethics and independence requirements in the AICPA’s Code of Professional Conduct.  He is a prior member of the PCAOB’s Standing Advisory Group (SAG) and during 2007 – 2008 served on the U.S. Treasury's Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession (ACAP).  ACAP conducted the first comprehensive study of the U.S. accounting profession after the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.  ACAP made many strategic recommendations to enhance the profession’s sustainability and effectiveness.  He has spoken frequently at conferences, seminars and roundtables in these various capacities.

Mr. Hansen obtained a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a major in accounting from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and a master’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in international business from California State University, Fullerton.  In 2005, he was a founding member of NASBA’s Center for the Public Trust and in 2018 was the recipient of NASBA’s William H. Van Rensselaer Public Service Award.  Currently, he serves as a volunteer trustee and the audit committee chair of the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani.  He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants.