After taking a $275 million charge for investing in sub-prime securities, which contributed to a loss in the fourth quarter, ceo Jim Cornelius is now out recruiting.

“I’m a big believer in accountability, and we’re looking for a new corporate treasurer and a couple of people under him,” he told Merrill Lynch conference in New York, according to Dow Jones.

Cornelius called the soured investments “an absolute surprise.” He conceded that “had I been smart enough to ask about that in detail in the fourth quarter, I’m not sure we would have avoided the loss completely, but maybe we would have minimized it.”

He didn’t identify the corporate treasurer, but in response to questions, a Bristol-Myers spokeswoman writes us to confirm that Ed Dwyer is now the former treasurer. “We have an interim treasurer, Jeffrey Galik, who has been with the company since 1988. He assumed his current role on Jan. 29,” she says.