Usana Health Sciences said that Grant Thornton has resigned as the independent accounting firm for the company, which markets vitamins and nutritional supplements through a network of distributors.The company said there were no disagreements on any accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure, or auditing, but did admit that it had a disagreement with the firm over the scope of the review procedures that would be followed after allegations about Usana appeared in the media in March. At that time, The Wall Street Journal published a story about a damaging report on the company's business practices by an investigator.
Usana said the disagreement had been resolved to the satisfaction of Grant Thornton, the company, and Usana's audit committee. But apparently Grant Thornton resigned its role anyway.
Usana has been in hot water in recent months over the credentials of its finance chief and some of its board directors and sales associates, as well as its sales practices. The company sells its products through independent distributors, many of whom work at home. A group of distributors has sued the company, accusing Usana of fraud and deception, and claiming they were left with heavy losses after they could not sell the company's products.
