WINSTON-SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA - BB&T Corporation, one of the nation's largest consumer banks, said Wednesday it has dropped Arthur Anderson LLP after 36 years as its independent auditor.
BB&T said it acted after last week's federal indictment of the troubled accounting firm. It named PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as its independent auditor for 2002.
BB&T, the 16th-largest U.S. bank on Fortune magazine's rankings based on 2000 revenue, had retained Andersen at its January board meeting after a review of the team assigned to BB&T.
Chief Financial Officer Scott Reed said, ``However, we made that decision with the understanding that we would continue to monitor any new developments surrounding the Enron situation. Obviously, this latest development necessitates that we reconsider our previous decision. We have to do what we believe is best for our shareholders and our company.''
Andersen is accused of obstructing justice by shredding tons of documents and deleting computer files related to audits it conducted for bankrupt Enron Corporation.
Atlanta-based AuditorTrak said Andersen has lost more than 40 audit clients since the start of the year, including Delta Air Lines, FedEx Corp. and SunTrust Banks.
BB&T has $72.7 billion in assets and operates more than eleven-hundred bank branches in the Carolinas, Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Indiana and Washington, D.C.
Friday
April 25th, 2025
8:10PM
