The retirement of FASB's long-serving chairman is no surprise. Eight years is a long time at the helm, especially when the last two involved a serious banking crisis in which accounting was a central concern. But Bob Herz kept a stiff upper lip and gave little quarter, even when playing defense and compromising where he had to.

When I interviewed Herz's predecessor, Ed Jenkins, he had clearly been through the ringer on everything from derivatives accounting to Enron. And it showed.

Jenkins more or less admitted as much to me, as he prepared to ride off into the sunset. What was he going to do in retirement? I asked.

Play golf, was his response, in a tone that suggested he'd had quite enough of the accounting wars. Yet those were mild in comparison to what's been happening of late. Yes, Enron was a disaster. But banking's near meltdown was far worse, and it was and remains no less about bad accounting, even if the banks have narrowly skirted the legal issues that brought Andrew Fastow and company low, if only because regulators have gone easier on the banks.

Herz, in contrast to Jenkins, seems to have taken the battles with the bank lobby and its political allies more or less in stride, and even signed on for more combat duty while the worst of the explosions were still going off around him. But he soldiered on in good humor, only occasionally betraying a frown of frustration perhaps only we detected while sitting before him at FEI conferences and the like, in response to a stupid question or remark directed his way. Anyway, we wish him well after a job well done.

But his departure raises some questions. Was Herz forced out by the bank lobby? Will his successor take the politically more convenient route, even if it means poorer accounting and less transparent capital markets as a result?

 Leslie Seidman, the acting chief, is also highly capable and disarming, she with intelligence and charm, whereas Herz used his self-deprecating, though no less intelligent, wit to great effect.

Seidman is also a big fair value proponent, based on what I've heard her say in conferences and in an interview I had with her as well. But she's somewhat untested on the battlefront, having little or no experience I'm aware of directly confronting the DC crowd. (Please correct me if I'm wrong here.)

And on the one issue where I once saw her get push-back from the press, accounting for uncertain tax positions, she did not come up with a very convincing explanation of FASB's views. In her defense, FASB finds itself in the somewhat uncomfortable position there of opining on issues affecting the collection of federal revenue.

Still, Seidman has a ways to go to prove she has anywhere as much mettle as Herz in fending off opposition to better accounting rules, especially when politically motivated or offered in bad faith.

Another important question here involves the FAF's decision to bring the number of FASB members back to seven, after Herz reduced it to five for the sake of more control, efficiency and clarity.

The change is obviously a repudiation of Herz on that point, and it's one that could very well mean a lengthier, more obscure and politically compromised process that yields poorer accounting.

Much, of course, depends on who is appointed to those other two spots. Yes, that's always the case. But thanks to some recent backroom arm-twisting, the SEC now has more of a say in the nominating process. In any case, a seven-member board can't help but be messier than the five-member one Herz oversaw.

This much is for sure: Anyone who applauds Herz's departure and claims to want less complex accounting rules at the same time is talking out of both sides of his or her mouth.