Washington -- The California Public Employees' Retirement System, one of the largest pension funds in the country and a major stakeholder in mortgage finance concern Freddie Mac, is fighting the reappointment of Big Four firm PricewaterhouseCoopers as its auditor.
The pension giant said it is trying to block PwC because the firm has performed a series of non-audit services for Freddie Mac.
Calpers, which owns some 5.1 million shares of Freddie Mac, is also opposing the re-election of members to Freddie Mac’s audit committee. Calpers said it has a policy of withholding votes from audit committee members if their respective companies allow the independent accountants to perform non-audit work.
One of the audit committee members seeking re-election to the Freddie Mac board is director Shaun F. O'Malley, a former chairman at PwC.
