The dreaded auditor change

REFR filed an 8-K yesterday that, just a few years ago, would have put fear into the heart of even the most jaded investor -- the dreaded change of auditing firms, from KPMG to BDO Seidman.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, the whole deal is probably nothing much. An article in the New York Times from a couple of months ago presaged this change, by highlighting companies, that, despite doing nothing in particular wrong, are being discontinued as clients by the Big Four firms, including KPMG. It all stems from the complexities and red tape introduced by the Sarbanes-Oxley act, filtering down through to the smaller companies, and making the task of their compliance too much for the major firms to handle.

So REFR moves to a "second-tier" accounting firm, and all is well on that score. REFR may be a chronic overpromiser and non-deliverer, but it has never been a book-cooker. Assuredly, if management were to partake of invented numbers, they would invent better ones than the ones they currently report.