14 DAY TRIAL // Apple contracted Ernst & Young on Friday to be the company’s independent accounting firm, after clearing the score with KPMG, who had audited the company’s books for longer than a decade. The move, according to an Apple spokesperson, was a result of a recently adopted board “policy to review the appointment of its independent auditor every five years.”
Reuters (via CNN Money) reports that Friday, 27 February, 2009, saw Apple Inc. name Ernst & Young as its independent accounting firm, replacing KPMG, which had audited the company's books since fiscal 1997. “In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Apple said there were no disagreements with KPMG 'on any matter of accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure or auditing scope or procedure' during the past two fiscal years,” according to the report.
Reportedly, a competitive process was the basis of Apple's decision to change auditors. Apple claims that several firms, including KPMG, were invited to engage in the competition. The Reuters report also cites an Apple spokesperson who said that "in accordance with good corporate governance, Apple's board recently adopted a policy to review the appointment of its independent auditor every five years."
Additionally, the regulatory filing said KPMG's audit reports on Apple's fiscal 2007 and 2008 financial statements did not contain an adverse opinion.
Speaking of the Securities and Exchange Commission, last month, the SEC revealed it was planning to review Apple's disclosures regarding its CEO's health problems, pressed by investors. According to reports issued at the time, regulators were not commencing the investigation following a particular lead, as the SEC didn't have any evidence of wrongdoing.
"The good news flipped by the bad news makes one wonder what Apple knew," said James Cox, a law professor at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. "It’s not surprising for the SEC to come in and look afterward, given the pressure and publicity regarding their handling of a lot of cases." SEC spokesman John Nester declined to comment on the Apple inquiry, as did Steve Dowling, a spokesman for the Mac maker itself.