Karen Higgins

Biography

Karen Higgins is an audit and assurance partner at Deloitte who has specialised in the financial service industry for 30 years. She has extensive experience in ensuring the accounting treatments under all major accounting frameworks are correct. With her expertise in financial instruments, hedging and derivatives, she is frequently consulted on matters relating to business combinations, financial and non-financial asset impairment, leases, revenue and liability or equity determinations and pensions. 

She has also worked as a technical advisory partner on financial statement audits for a variety of clients and a national office consultation resource for complex issues. From 2007 to 2014, Karen was director of accounting services at Deloitte, where she was responsible for the ultimate resolution of technical accounting issues. Karen has been a member of Deloitte’s Global IFRS Leadership Team for 11 years and is the Canadian firm representative in this group.

Before joining Deloitte, Karen held several senior roles on the audit team at a large Canadian bank. She oversaw the conduct of audits, advised management on accounting issues and reviewed and assessed financial statement disclosures.

Karen has also served as Vice-Chair of the Canadian Accounting Standards Board (AcSB) and participated in the development of Canadian GAAP and the country’s endorsement of IFRS Standards. From 2012 to 2015, Karen chaired the AcSB’s IFRS discussion group, a public forum on applying IFRS Standards. Karen was also a member of the Canadian Securities Administrators’ Reporting Advisory Committee for seven years where she provided research and consultation in the lead up to, during and after the transition to IFRS Standards for public companies in Canada. 

Karen qualified as a chartered professional accountant after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in commerce from the University of Toronto.

She joined the IFRS Interpretations Committee in 2021.