Hats off to Hal! 2005 CalCPA Distinguished Service Award winner: Harold S. "Hal" Schultz

California CPA, June, 2005

For a career devoted to the betterment of the accounting profession, Harold S. "Hal" Schultz is CalCPA's 2005 Distinguished Service Award winner.

Schultz, a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Irvine, is a 33-year veteran of the CPA profession and his contributions to the profession have been numerous and constant.

He has been a CalCPA Council member since 1991, and served as CalCPA president in 1997-98. He has served on the CalCPA Accounting Education and Careers Committee since 1992, serving as chair in 1995-97. Schultz also is chair of CalCPA's Leadership Development Committee, and previously has chaired CalCPA's Nominating Committee; the Special Committee on Certification and Licensing; and the Accounting Education Planning Task Force.

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And if that wasn't enough, Schultz has been a member of the CalCPA Committee on Professional Accountability.

But it's his work on CalCPA's Government Relations Committee, where he is co-chair, that has left the most indelible mark on CalCPA--and the profession. He began working on the committee in 1991 and has played a major role in ensuring a fair regulatory environment.

"Hal has contributed so much to the profession on both the national and state level that our successes as a result of his efforts are too extensive to chronicle," says Robert A. Petersen, chair of the CalCPA Government Relations Committee.

"While Hal is a large-firm representative appearing before regulators, he's always been balanced for the good of the profession as a whole, including the smallest of the professional practices."

Schultz has served on the California Board of Accountancy's Licensing Issues Task Force; Audit Standards and Practices Task Force; Peer Review Task Force; and Practice Privilege Task Force.

On the national level, Schultz is a member of the AICPA Council and served on the AICPA CPA Exam Content Oversight Task Force, from 1999-2001.

Schultz began his accounting career in 1968 during his senior year at Cal State Fullerton when he was an intern with Coopers & Lybrand, LLP. He quickly worked his way up the ladder, and was named assurance partner in 1981. The firm, which merged with Price Waterhouse in 1998, is the only one Schultz has ever worked for.

Through it all, Schultz has remained a positive driving force for both CalCPA and the profession.

"Over his career, Hal has demonstrated more true dedication to our profession than anyone I have had the pleasure to be associated with," says James Kuhn, chair of CalCPA's Awards and Recognition Committee.

"He seems to do it all with such a quiet ease and always with a smile on his face."