SEC names James Kroeker acting chief accountant

WASHINGTON — James Kroeker has been promoted to acting chief accountant at the Securities and Exchange Commission to replace the retiring incumbent, the agency announced Tuesday.

The move for Kroeker, who has been the SEC's deputy chief accountant since February 2007, was the latest in a recent series of departures and appointments at the embattled agency. He replaces Conrad Hewitt, who retired from the government.

In a similar move announced Monday, Shelley Parratt, deputy director of the SEC's corporation finance division, was named its acting director to replace the departing John White. And Alta Rodriguez, the agency's deputy director for equal employment opportunity, was appointed acting EEO director, replacing the retiring Deborah Balducchi.

Kroeker, 39, directed the SEC's study on so-called mark-to-market accounting rules, mandated by Congress as part of the $700 billion financial bailout package and issued late last month. With the study, the SEC officially rejected a banking industry push to suspend the rules, which force banks to value assets on their balance sheets at current market prices even if they plan to hold them for years.

The study recommended maintaining the fair value rules but also suggested improvements to current accounting practices.

Kroeker, who came to the SEC from accounting firm Deloitte and Touche LLP, also has led the efforts by the chief accountant's office to address the current economic turmoil, including steps to improve guidelines for off-balance sheet accounting, the SEC said in a release.

The SEC has been buffeted by criticism for failing to detect signs that major Wall Street banks were in trouble before the financial crisis erupted, and for possibly lax oversight and enforcement in other areas.

As the scandal involving disgraced money manager Bernard Madoff stunned Wall Street last month, revelations surfaced that staff at the SEC repeatedly failed over the course of a decade to fully investigate credible allegations against him. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox ordered the agency's inspector general to investigate what went wrong, and the IG told Congress Monday that he was expanding the inquiry to examine the operations of the SEC's enforcement and inspection divisions.

President-elect Barack Obama's designated choice for SEC chairman, securities industry regulator Mary Schapiro, is likely to face pressure to bring changes to the agency.

In addition to Parratt and Rodriguez, the SEC also announced Monday the appointment of Barbara Lorenzen, a former head of the Chicago Board of Trade's audit department, as an associate regional director for examinations in the SEC's Chicago office.

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