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Question (Jean Graef, 10/6/2003)

Is there an easy way to find out which accounting firm audits the books for a public company -- other than reading the company's annual report? A free corporate lookup would be nice ...

Responses

Your public library should have a copy of Who Audits America. That should quickly give you what you need. You will need to get a hold of the latest because of all the auditor changes in 2002-03. Jeanette Silic-Roulston

More information on this publication was provided by Stanley Lyle. Who Audits America, A Directory of Publicly-Traded Companies & the Accounting Firms Who Audit Them - Menlo Park, CA: Data Financial Press - 650-321-4553. I think the latest ed is Dec. 2002. The price listed on the title page of the book is $161. The main part of the book is arranged alphabetically by company name; entries include the current and former auditor and a few details about the company. The title page states the database is available in various electronic formats - for a fee.

Corporate Affiliations online does have this information for a company the entry of Outside Service Firms which includes Information about Advertising Agency, Registrar, Pension Manager, Auditor, Transfer Agent, Master Trustee, Medical Insurance Carrier (note there are multiple entries for Advertising agency, Pension Manager, Registrar, Medical Insurance Carrier). Requires a fee. Robert G. Kelly

The Standard and Poor's Register (the one that lists the company and its executives) includes the auditors, lawyers and bankers for companies. Helen Katz

If I remember correctly, the Directory of Corporate Affiliations lists Corporate Auditors..... Though it's not free either. Molly Brumbaugh

FYI - Free sources might be out date.....not all sources will continually update the auditors field. Lucy Barry

New information (BUSLIB-L, 4/20/2004)

SECInfo collects auditor changes by date, most recent first, at this URL:

http://www.secinfo.com/$/SEC/Filings.asp?Type=8-K&Item=4&Since=4

You have to register to use the site, but there is no subscription fee for the site for the "casual" user (though when one's status changes from casual is not defined).

Do you have the Compustat database? A person should be able to generate a spreadsheet so easily and then create a yes/no formula for each entry.

The nice thing about the pay services is that they can zero in on the relevant sections. If you only have free services you could try a full text search. I'm not sure if this catches 100% of the transactions but I believe in most cases the company must file a form 8-k and refer to item 4 (Item 4. Changes in Registrant's Certifying Accountant).

Edited on September 23, 2005