COMPANIES Dell on Monday named a new chief financial officer, closing the book on an accounting scandal that has dogged the world’s second-largest PC maker.
The company said Don Carty, 61, would step down as CFO on June 13 and be succeeded by Brian Gladden, president and chief executive of Sabic Innovative Plastics.
“Don has played a key role in re-establishing transparency and integrity in our financial practices and we are extremely grateful to have had his leadership,” said Michael Dell, chief executive and founder, in a statement.
Mr Carty, a Dell board member since 1992, stepped in as CFO in December 2006, replacing James Schneider, amid scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission over its accounting practices.
Last August, the company, based in Texas, said it would restate four years of financial results after an internal investigation found that unnamed senior executives had used improper accounting methods to meet quarterly performance targets.
This followed a year-long inquiry by Dell’s audit committee. It found evidence of improper attempts to adjust the balances of certain reserve and liability accounts around the close of quarters, with the aim of reaching financial targets. The company said at the time it was disciplining employees and strengthening internal controls.
Mr Carty, a former chief executive of AMR Corp, the parent of American Airlines, is to remain on Dell’s board.
Mr Gladden, 43, was head of GE Plastics when General Electric sold it to Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic) for $11.6bn last August. He has led a company with 10,000 employees, annual revenues of about $7bn and facilities in 20 countries.
The new CFO will receive a salary of $700,000 and a signing-on bonus of $2m, according to an SEC filing. He also receives 922,000 stock options and 223,000 restricted shares.
The appointment is the latest in a long line of management changes made by Mr Dell since January last year when he reassumed control of the company he founded, succeeding Kevin Rollins as chief executive.
Mr Dell brought in a new team to revive the company’s flagging business model. After relying on a direct-sales model for nearly two decades, Dell has made an aggressive push into retail stores.
It has announced plans for $3bn in cost-cutting, including the loss of more than 8,800 jobs or about 10 per cent of its workforce. It has also revamped its product design and is targeting a greater share in market segments such as services, emerging markets and small- and medium-sized businesses.
Dell has lost its number-one PC maker position to Hewlett-Packard and in February reported fourth-quarter net profits of $679m, down 6 per cent on a year ago.
