Former GAO Officer Said to Have Inside Track to Become S&L; Chief

WASHINGTON —  Frederick D. Wolf, the former No. 2 official at the General Accounting Office, is the leading candidate to succeed savings and loan regulator M. Danny Wall, sources in the Administration, Congress and industry said Thursday.

Wolf, a partner at the accounting firm Price Waterhouse & Co., is favored by Treasury Department officials and by senior aides to the Senate Banking Committee, which would have to confirm his nomination, said the sources, who requested anonymity.

During six years at the GAO, nine months of which as assistant comptroller general, Wolf earned points with members of Congress for his blunt assessment of the S&L; crisis, in contrast with Wall, who is criticized for minimizing the problem.