Proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis are urging the shareholders of General Electric Co. to vote against keeping accounting firm KPMG. There are “concerns about GE’s previously-undisclosed liabilities and accounting practices,” noted ISS in a report on the subject. KPMG has served as GE’s auditor for 109 years, first putting it’s stamp of approval on GE’s books in 1909.
Glass Lewis says it generally supports a company’s choice of auditor except when it believes the “auditor’s independence or audit integrity has been compromised,” according to the report. GE disclosed in January that U.S. securities regulators are probing insurance charges including a $6.2 billion charge to increase insurance reserves and $15 billion more in provisions for insurance policies.
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