Apple has made a preemptive strike in the perception battle on Wall Street by announcing new auditor policies. The move comes in the aftermath of the Enron scandal in which that companyis auditors were also involved with consulting for the company in a variety of financial services, many of which were the same areas that were being audited. While this should seem like a clear conflict of interest, many companies have indulging in such practices. Appleis policy announcement puts in place barriers against this practice within Apple. From Apple:
Apple® announced today that it has adopted a new auditor policy which bans its auditors from performing non-financial consulting, such as information technology consulting and internal audit services.
"Our boardis audit committee has always been vigilant in these matters, but why not go a step further and make it crystal clear to our shareholders," said Steve Jobs, Appleis CEO.
Apple will continue to use its auditors to perform financial consulting in such areas as audits of statutory filings of foreign subsidiaries, 401-K audits, SEC registrations, and tax compliance and planning.
The Audit and Finance Committee of Appleis Board of Directors will continue its current practice of reviewing the non-audit services that Appleis auditors are engaged to perform, to ensure that the work does not compromise the auditorsi independence in performing their audit services.
You can find information on Appleis investor relations at the companyis Web site.