Bob Hirth is a consultant to Protiviti, a global business consulting firm that operates in more than 25 countries. Prior to that, he was Executive Vice President, global internal audit and a member of the Firm’s six-person executive management team for the first ten years of Protiviti’s development and was a senior Managing Director from 2012 through 2023.
Bob was appointed to the standard setting board of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) upon its formation in 2017 and served as Co-Vice Chair of the board until August 2022 when SASB was acquired by the IFRS Foundation. He also chaired SASB’s Technology and Communications sector committee. He is a 2021 NACD Directorship 100 Governance Professional honoree, a current member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s (PCAOB) Standards and Emerging Issues Advisory Group as well as the AICPA ASEC Sustainability Assurance and Advisory Task Force. Recognized by The Consulting Report as a Top 25 Sustainability Consultant and Leader of 2023.
He is a co-author of COSO’s latest guidance: Achieving Effective Internal Control Over Sustainability Reporting (ICSR). Serving as COSO Chair from June 2013 to February 2018, his activities included leading COSO’s project on revising its Enterprise Risk Management Framework which was released in September 2017, issuing COSO’s Guide on Fraud Risk Management, and actively promoting COSO’s 2013 Internal Control Integrated Framework around the world and through the Media. Bob initiated COSO’s guidance on ERM/ESG integration which was issued in 2018. He has worked on assignments and made presentations in over 20 countries, serving more than 75 organizations and working closely with board members, C-level executives, University professors, finance and accounting personnel as well as public accounting firm partners and employees.
In 2012, Bob was appointed to serve a two-year term on the Standing Advisory Group of the PCAOB and was re-appointed to serve a three-year term ending December 31, 2016.
Bob started his career in public accounting and became a global equity partner of Arthur Andersen in 1988. During his tenure there, he worked in the Dallas, Melbourne Australia, San Jose and San Francisco offices, serving as a partner in both the audit and advisory practices of the firm. For over 20 years, he practiced as a CPA in Texas and California and also qualified as a chartered accountant and registered company auditor while working in Australia. In 2013, Bob was inducted into The American Hall of Distinguished Audit Practitioners. In 2014 and 2015, he served as the Chairman of the IIA’s IPPF re-look task force. He graduated from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, with a concentration in accounting.