SouthWest Water will separate the role of chairman and chief executive, and adopt other corporate governance changes at a shareholders meeting next month. The Los Angeles-based water services company restated several quarters due to accounting errors, Shareholders will meet September 11 to approve the new corporate governance guidelines, which lower the mandatory retirement age of directors to 72 from 75 and split the roles of the two top executives. A new chairman will be named at the meeting, said the Los Angeles Business Journal. The company, which owns utilities and provides water and related services to municipalities and companies, restated financial statements in July for its 2006 and 2007 fiscal years and quarters ended March 31, 2008 and June 30, 2008, with a cumulative reduction in net income of $10.2 million. The accounting problems were uncovered by new auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, which took over after a new management team led by Chief Executive Mark Swatek came on board in mid-2007. The company also added two directors with corporate governance experience to the board, bringing the total to 10, although four directors are set to leave the board in May. Bruce C. Edwards and Kimberly Alexy joined the board on Monday.
Governance Changes at SouthWest Water
After uncovering accounting errors, SouthWest Water will separate the roles of chairman and CEO.
August 13, 2009