A.C. Moore Arts & Crafts has appointed Rodney Schriver chief accounting officer, in addition to his current roles as vice president and controller. Schriver, who joined the company as controller in 2004, took on the additional role of vice president in March 2007.

Prior to A.C. Moore, Schriver served as vice president and assistant controller with Charming Shoppes, a national specialty retailer, from 1989 to 2004. Previously, he was a senior auditor with Ernst & Young.

In other news, the company has also appointed David Stern as executive vice president, chief financial officer and chief administrative officer. In addition to serving as the company’s principal financial officer, Stern will be responsible for information technology, supply chain and inventory management.

Allison Lurton, who most recently served as senior counsel at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has joined the international law firm of Covington & Burling as of counsel. She will join the firm’s energy, derivatives and white collar practices with a focus on advising clients on the financial regulation reforms to be implemented and enforced by the CFTC as a result of the recently passed Dodd-Frank Act.

During her seven years at the CFTC, Lurton gained extensive experience in both the regulation and enforcement of energy and other derivative markets. As senior counsel to Commissioner Scott O’Malia, and previously counsel to Chairman Gary Gensler and Acting Chairmen Walter Lukken and Michael Dunn, she was significantly involved in a wide range of CFTC policy and regulatory matters, including the CFTC’s activities related to the financial reform legislation.

From 2003-2007, Lurton served as a trial attorney, rising to chief trial attorney for the CFTC’s Division of Enforcement and handled a range of matters involving the energy industry. Prior to joining the CFTC, Lurton spent four years at the Department of Justice, where she was a trial attorney in the Commercial Litigation Branch.

Christopher Conte, Associate Director of the Division of Enforcement of the Securities and Exchange Commission, will join Steptoe & Johnson, following a distinguished 17-year career in government. Conte will be a partner in Steptoe’s Washington office, where he worked as an associate from 1988 to 1992.

During his career at the SEC, Conte has overseen and conducted investigations and enforcement actions in all major SEC program areas. His work has included matters involving accounting fraud and disclosure violations, including options backdating misconduct, illicit payments under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, unlawful IPO allocation and manipulative short-selling practices, and insider trading by corporate insiders and market, legal, and accounting professionals.

Conte also supervised actions involving fraud and compliance violations by broker-dealers and investment advisers, including unlawful market timing, broker-dealer e-mail preservation and production violations, audit failures, auditor independence violations, and violations of the SEC’s proxy rules, tender offer rules, and rules requiring individuals and entities to report securities holdings. Conte coordinated numerous enforcement matters with other federal law enforcement agencies, including the Department of Justice and US Attorney offices, and self-regulatory organizations, including the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Aug. 27 charged former Dell Chief Accounting Officer, Robert Davis, for his role in the company’s accounting fraud. The charges come after the SEC in July charged Dell with fraud for materially misstating its operating results from fiscal year 2002 to fiscal year 2005.

The SEC’s complaint against Davis, filed in federal district court in Washington, D.C., alleges that he directed the use of “cookie jar” reserves, which he referred to as “contingencies,” to cover shortfalls in operating results and engaged in other reserve manipulations. The SEC’s complaint further alleges that the reserve manipulations allowed Dell to materially misstate its operating expenses as a percentage of revenue—an important financial metric that Dell highlighted to investors. The manipulations also enabled Dell to materially misstate the operating income of its Europe, Middle East and Africa segment.

More Charges

In a separate complaint also filed in federal district court in Washington, D.C., the SEC alleges that Dell Assistant Controller, Randall Imhoff, aided and abetted Dell’s improper use of “cookie jar” reserves and other reserve manipulations to cover shortfalls in Dell’s operating results from fiscal year 2002 to fiscal year 2004. The SEC’s complaint alleges that Imhoff, acting under his supervisors’ general direction, planned and issued instructions regarding Dell’s build-up and use of cookie jar reserves. In an example of his involvement in Dell’s other improper reserve manipulations, the SEC’s complaint alleges that Imhoff failed to ensure that Dell increased its reserves, as required by GAAP, after learning that an accrual to cover the costs of closing a Dell facility in Texas was inadequate.

Charges Brought

Without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations, agreed to pay a penalty of $175,000, disgorgement of $19,080, and prejudgment interest of $9,078. In his settlement offer, Davis also consented to being suspended from appearing or practicing before the SEC as an accountant, with the right to apply for reinstatement after five years.

In addition, Imhoof, without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations, agreed to pay a penalty of $25,000, disgorgement of $12,852, and prejudgment interest of $6,197. In his settlement offer, Imhoff also consented to being suspended from appearing or practicing before the SEC as an accountant, with the right to apply for reinstatement after three years.

KBR, a global engineering, construction and services company, has appointed Dennis Baldwin as vice president and chief accounting officer, effective as of Aug. 16. He replaces John Gann, who left the company to pursue other opportunities.

Baldwin was previously the vice president and chief accounting officer for three years with Houston-based engineering and construction company, McDermott International. Prior to joining McDermott, Baldwin served as vice president and chief accounting officer for the turnaround management team of Integrated Electrical Services, as well as vice president and corporate controller at Houston-based Veritas, DGC.

BB&T Corporation, a financial services holding company with more than $155 billion in assets and market capitalization of $18.2 billion has named Robert Johnson as general counsel, corporate secretary and chief corporate governance officer. He assumes his new responsibilities Sept. 1.

Johnson currently serves as BB&T’s deputy general counsel and manager of the corporate, securities, tax practice group, a position he has held since January 2008. A member of BB&T’s legal department since 2005, Johnson’s practice areas include all aspects of general corporate and commercial representation with an emphasis on corporate governance, securities law issues, mergers and acquisitions, and regulatory compliance matters.

As BB&T’s general counsel, he will manage a team of 70 attorneys and legal professionals with several satellite offices throughout the company’s footprint.

Michael Rand, the former chief accounting officer for home builder Beazer Homes USA, has been charged with 11 criminal counts of conspiracy, securities fraud, obstruction, witness tampering, false statements to a financial institution, misleading conduct, and destruction of records.

The charges stem from an ongoing government investigation involving Beazer and its employees. In July 2009, Beazer was charged with, among other things, participation in the conspiracy and securities fraud with Rand. Beazer accepted responsibility for those charges and, in a deferred prosecution agreement, agreed to pay up to $50 million in restitution.

According to the indictment, Rand is alleged to have directed an accounting fraud conspiracy to manipulate Beazer’s books and records, to deceive Beazer’s auditors, and to achieve earnings targets, and to boost or lower earnings at Beazer. The conspiracy is alleged to have gone on from around 2000 through in or about 2007.

According to the indictment, Rand and others executed the conspiracy in two ways. First, between 2005 and 2006, Rand allegedly entered into a hidden oral side agreement with another company through one of its employees, which was designed to allow Beazer to obtain cash and recognize revenue from purported “sales” of model homes. This activity was further hidden from Beazer’s auditors.

The indictment also alleges that, between 2000 and 2007, Rand engaged in a scheme to commit securities fraud and create false books and records at Beazer by practicing a form of what is commonly known as “cookie jar accounting,” which allowed Rand and others to manipulate Beazer’s publicly reported financial statements.

Full details can be found in this Department Of Justice press release.

Aircraft manufacturer, Hawker Beechcraft, has appointed Alexander Snyder as vice president, general counsel and secretary. In this capacity, he will be responsible for all legal matters concerning the company and its affiliates.

Prior to joining Hawker, Snyder spent seven years with Koch Industries, a privately-owned company with subsidiaries involved in manufacturing, trading and investments. At Koch, Snyder held several positions, including as associate general counsel for corporate and commercial matters and chief counsel for mergers and acquisitions.

AirTran Airways, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AirTran Holdings, has announced that Steven Rossum, currently executive vice president of corporate development, will assume additional responsibilities as chief legal officer. In addition, he also will serve as executive vice president and general counsel, effective Aug. 31.

Rossum will also serve as general counsel of AirTran Holdings. He will succeed Richard Magurno, who has been senior vice president, general counsel and secretary of both AirTran Airways and AirTran Holdings since August 2000.

Magurno will continue to serve as senior vice president and corporate secretary of both companies and manage certain litigation matters for AirTran through the date of his planned retirement in 2011. In his new role, Rossum will oversee legal and government affairs and will continue to handle certain of his current business responsibilities including aircraft financing and other strategic and transactional matters. Both executives will continue to report to Robert Fornaro, AirTran Airways’ chairman, president, and chief executive officer.

Rossum has over 20 years of legal and financial airline and aviation experience with an emphasis on transactional matters. Rossum rejoined AirTran in 2008 from ASTAR Air Cargo, where he served as executive vice president, general counsel, chief corporate officer and chief financial officer of the cargo airline. Rossum’s prior work experience includes serving as senior vice president and general counsel of Reno Air and assistant general counsel at US Airways and World Airways and as vice president and treasurer of AirTran.

Steven Shapiro, general counsel and corporate secretary of Cole Taylor Bank, has been appointed co-chairman of the national small- and mid-cap companies committee for the Society of Corporate Secretaries & Governance Professionals.

Earlier this year, Shapiro was appointed to the organization’s national Public Advocacy Committee and recently completed a second term as President of the Society’s Chicago chapter. In addition, he has been with Cole Taylor Bank and its parent company, Taylor Capital Group, since 2009.

The Society of Corporate Secretaries & Governance Professionals, founded in 1946, has more than 3,100 members representing approximately 2,500 companies. Its members deal with public disclosure under the securities laws and matters affecting corporate governance. The small- and mid-cap companies committee works to support the unique governance needs of smaller companies through teleconferences, Webcasts and a group-specific intranet.