Institutional Shareholder Services asks GE to dump auditor KPMG

Last year, KPMG said it had fired six people over the PCAOB leaks, which the company had identified and brought to the government's attention. The company hired outside legal counsel to investigate the matter and took "remedial actions" to prevent a recurrence, KPMG spokesman Manuel Goncalves said on Monday in an email.

BENGALURU:  Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services on Thursday asked the shareholders of General Electric Co to vote against keeping accounting firm KPMG because of "concerns about GE's previously-undisclosed liabilities and accounting practices."

Advisory firm Glass, Lewis & Co published a similar recommendation on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Glass Lewis generally supports a company's auditors choice except when it believes the "auditor's independence or audit integrity has been compromised," according to the report.

GE in January disclosed 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.

GE in a report dated March 12, had backed KPMG and said its Audit Committee believed that KPMG is independent and it is in the best interests of GE and its share owners to retain KPMG as its independent auditor for 2018.

KPMG declined to comment. Glass, Lewis & Co was not immediately available for a comment. - Reuters