FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                  99-17

   Office of the Chief Accountant Selects Two Professional
                     Accounting Fellows

     Washington, D.C., February 12, 1999 -- The Securities
and Exchange Commission's Office of the Chief Accountant
recently selected Dominick J. Ragone and Scott A. Taub to
serve as Professional Accounting Fellows for two-year terms
beginning in June 1999.  Currently, Mr. Ragone is a Senior
Manager in PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP's Capital Market
Advisory Services Group in New York, and Mr. Taub is an
Experienced Manager in Arthur Andersen LLP's Professional
Standards Group in Chicago.  Messrs. Ragone and Taub will
join the current Professional Accounting Fellows -- Mr. Eric
W. Casey, Mr. Pascal Desroches, Mr. D. J. Gannon, Mr. Eric
Jacobsen, Mr. Paul Kepple, and Mr. Richard Rodgers.  They
will replace outgoing Professional Accounting Fellows Mr.
Jeffrey N. Jones and Mr. Robert Uhl.

     At the Commission, the newly selected Professional
Accounting Fellows will work with the Chief Accountant and
will be involved in the study and development of rule
proposals under the federal securities laws, liaison with
the professional accounting and auditing standards-setting
bodies, and consultation with registrants on accounting and
reporting matters. "The Professional Accounting Fellowship
Program, which began in 1972, has been a tremendous success.
The Fellows are outstanding accountants who bring to the
Commission a fresh perspective and foster better
communications between the Commission and the private
sector.  Certainly my experience as a PAF has had a profound
impact on my professional development," said Lynn E. Turner,
Chief Accountant, a former PAF himself.

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