Paragon Dismisses BP As Auditor: The board of Paragon Financial Corp., a Ponte Vedra, Fla.-based home mortgage originator, dismissed BP Professional Group as its independent accountant on Aug. 26, according to a Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
At the time of the filing, a successor had not been named.
Paragon said that BP Professional Group’s report on its financial statements for 2002 and 2001 contained no adverse opinions - however, BP did doubt its ability “to continue as a going concern.”
Oneida Jettisons PwC: Oneida Financial Corp., a holding company for Oneida Savings Bank, has dismissed Big Four firm PricewaterhouseCoopers as its independent auditor, and hired Crowe Chizek as its replacement, according to a filing with the SEC. Oneida and PwC did not report any disagreements on accounting matters.
Cousins Properties Taps E&Y: Cousins Properties Inc., an Atlanta-based real estate investment trust, appointed Big Four firm Ernst & Young as its internal auditor, prompting E&Y to resign as auditor of Cousins’ joint venture with Bank of America Plaza.
In a filing with the SEC, Cousins said that Ernst & Young could no longer maintain its independence if it remained as auditor for CSC Associates, the joint venture with Bank of America that developed a 55-story office tower in Atlanta.
Big Four firm Deloitte & Touche has been named as auditor to that venture.
Cousins said that it hired E&Y to perform services related to compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which requires an independent auditor to attest to a client’s management assessment of effective internal controls and financial reporting.
