AOL names new CFO

America Online named Stephen M. Swad as its new executive vice president and chief financial officer (CFO) Friday, wrapping up an executive search that began last September, amid government scrutiny of the Internet giant’s accounting practices.

Swad, who moves from parent company AOL Time Warner’s (AOLTW) Turner Entertainment Group, where he served as executive vice president of finance and administration, is the latest executive who has been reshuffled at the media conglomerate as of late.

The executive shakeups have been fueled by tensions between the Time Warner and AOL factions of the merged company, which have been in a power struggle over who would take control amid the rough seas of declining advertising market and accounting troubles.

Swad, 41, will report to AOL Vice Chairman Joseph Ripp, who was promoted from the post of CFO last September. Ripp has been performing both jobs while a replacement was sought, an AOL spokesman said.

In his new position Swad will oversee financial planning, analysis and reporting as well as tax planning and compliance.

The new CFO faces a series of challenges, not the least of which being a continued diminishment in AOL’s advertising revenue. While reporting its fourth-quarter 2002 financial results last January, the company said that it expected its ad dollars to continue to dip amid the current economic downturn. What’s more AOL is being investigated by both the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Department of Justice for questionable accounting practices.

Swad used to be a deputy chief accountant with the SEC as well as a partner at professional services firm KPMG.

In a statement released Friday, Ripp said that Swad had a broad knowledge of the AOL business and would be able to hit the ground running.

An AOL spokesman said that Swad would start at his new post in about a month.