Donald L. Gursey

GURSEY, Donald L. (71), Father of Divorce Forensic Accounting and the former President of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants Donald L. Gursey, one of the founding partners of the Los Angeles accounting firm of Gursey, Schneider & Co. LLP, passed away November 15, 2007, in Los Angeles from pancreatic cancer. He was 71 years old. Gursey, a Los Angeles native and UCLA graduate, never set out to be a CPA. Gursey said, "I wanted to be a businessman. My father used to take me to work with him where he manufactured coffee makers and I became fascinated with business. I loved the deal." Don Gursey enlisted in the army and served two years in the military, stationed in Europe, before attending UCLA. After graduating from UCLA Gursey joined a local accounting firm and acquired his CPA certificate. The accounting profession didn't have quite the niche he was looking for, so Gursey created one for himself. This came about with the passage of the Family Law act of 1970, which eliminated fault in California divorces. With the state no longer interested in marital infidelities as the basis for "fault" divorce, Gursey said, "the dissolution was now about the equal division of assets. It became the ideal game for an accountant with an interest in the law." With his legal connections and some previous investigative experience for insurance companies under his belt, Gursey began consulting for lawyers working on high stakes divorce cases, including many celebrities, sports figures and titans of industry. At the same time he was building his business, Gursey was building a reputation with his peers both for his in-depth knowledge of the constantly changing law and for his outgoing personality. "I retained him in case after case," says Paul Gutman, an attorney and now a Superior Court judge. "He analyzed and testified amazingly well, but he was strongest at sharing ideas. Don earned a tremendous reputation for his integrity and that goes along way in this industry." In 1979, Gursey partnered with Stan Schneider, a CPA who focused on tax and business management, forming Gursey, Schneider & Co. LLP, a firm with, then approximately 20 employees. Over the years, the firm has expanded its services to include tax and accounting, auditing, business management, bankruptcy, as well as litigation support for family law and civil cases. Gursey, Schneider & Co. now employs more than 120 accountants and staff. Schneider says Gursey's leadership role has been important to both the firm's growth and to the marital dissolution field. "He led by example," Schneider says, "Don was the leader in his field and his staff and younger partners learned from his experience and expertise." Gursey's contributions haven't only been in the courtroom. He has lectured throughout the state on the tax ramifications of divorce, and has written many articles on litigation support, tax matters, and other accounting issues. Gursey also served as the tax editor for the Family Law News, a publication of the State Bar of California. Don Gursey pioneered the concept of professional goodwill in marital dissolutions, and still today, the methodology utilized to value such goodwill is often referred to as the "Gursey" method. In addition to building his practice, Don Gursey became active in the California Society of CPAs in 1984. This was the same year that the first litigation committee was formed. His niche industry was growing and this "businessman" who "only liked the deal" suddenly found himself in a position to network with and learn from other CPAs, as well as contribute ideas of his own. Gursey served on the Government Relations and the Amicus Curiae committees, and was the former litigation sections steering committee chair, which is the committee responsible for the oversight of all four litigation sections; family law, business valuation, fraud and economic damages. In 2000 Don Gursey was elected president of the California Society of CPAs. In 2005, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the family law section; an award that was recently renamed the Donald L. Gursey Lifetime A91010