PROPOSAL NUMBER 2:
RATIFICATION OF THE SELECTION OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
The Board of Directors has appointed the firm of Squar Milner LLP as its independent registered public accounting firm to perform audit services for the Company and its subsidiary, Bank of Guam, for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2020. It is anticipated that a member of that firm will be present at the Annual Meeting. That representative is not expected to make a statement but will be available to answer any questions.
The approval of a majority of the shares represented at the Annual Meeting is required to ratify the selection of Squar Milner LLP.
THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS UNANIMOUSLY RECOMMENDS
A VOTE “FOR” THE RATIFICATION OF THE SELECTION OF SQUAR MILNER LLP FOR
THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 2020
INDEPENDENT PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM’S FEES AND SERVICES
On November 15, 2018, the Company retained Squar Milner LLP as its independent accountant. Squar Milner LLP is licensed to practice public accounting in Guam. The Audit Committee of the Company approved the engagement of Squar Milner LLP, a PCAOB-registered firm, for the audit of the Company’s December 31, 2019 financial statements.
The audit reports on the financial statements of the Company and the Bank as of and for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 were issued by Squar Milner LLP and did not contain an adverse opinion or disclaimer of opinion, nor were they qualified or modified as to uncertainty, audit scope, or accounting principles.
In 2018, Squar Milner was engaged to replace Crowe Horwath LLP (“Crowe Horwath”), who was dismissed on the same date. Crowe Horwath had served as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm since April 7, 2017. A discussion of the engagement of Crowe Horwath in 2017 is provided below. The decisions to dismiss Crowe Horwath and engage Squar Milner were approved by the Audit Committee.
Crowe Horwath never issued a report on the Company’s financial statements; therefore, Crowe Horwath did not issue any report on the Company’s financial statements containing an adverse opinion or disclaimer of opinion, and no such report was qualified or modified as to uncertainty, audit scope, or accounting principles.
At the time of Crowe Horwath’s dismissal, in connection with the audit of the Company’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2017, the Company and Crowe Horwath had been unable to agree regarding the adequacy of the Company’s allowance and provision for loan and lease losses (“ALLL”), the sufficiency of the Company’s access and change management controls related to the core operating system, the completeness and accuracy of system reports, and various other operational controls. Crowe Horwath also indicated that while they had not completed their audit, based on their observations and procedures performed at that time, Crowe Horwath believed it to be unlikely that sufficient mitigating controls existed to preclude the identification of material weaknesses in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2017, and that a significant increase in the sample sizes selected for testing on a substantive basis was needed to ensure that the financial statements are free of material misstatement.
Following multiple discussions with Crowe Horwath involving the Company’s management and the Audit Committee regarding the issues described in the previous paragraph, the Audit Committee and the Company’s management were unable to reach an agreement with Crowe Horwath regarding these issues.
During the year ended December 31, 2017 and in the subsequent interim period through April 12, 2018 (the date of the dismissal of Crowe Horwath), there were no other disagreements with Crowe Horwath on any matter of accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure, or auditing scope or procedure, which disagreements, if not resolved to the satisfaction of Crowe Horwath, would have caused it to make reference to the subject matter of the disagreement in connection with its report, had such report been issued, on the Company’s financial statements for such year.
As previously disclosed, Squar Milner served as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016, and in connection with such engagement the Company consulted with Squar Milner regularly regarding accounting, auditing and financial reporting issues. Subsequently and except as discussed in the following paragraph, during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 and through April 12, 2018, neither the Company, nor anyone on its behalf, consulted Squar Milner with respect to (i) the application of accounting principles to a specified transaction, either completed or proposed, or the type of audit opinion that might be rendered on the Company’s financial statements, and neither a written report was provided to the Company nor oral advice was provided to the Company that was an important factor considered by the Company in reaching a decision as to any accounting, auditing or financial reporting issue; or (ii) any matter that was either the subject of a disagreement (as defined in Item 304(a)(1)(iv) of RegulationS-K and the related instructions) or a reportable event (as described in Item 304(a)(1)(v) of RegulationS-K).
Beginning in March 2018, the Company consulted with Squar Milner regarding the adequacy of the Company’s ALLL for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016 and discussed the matters identified by Crowe Horwath as reported above. Squar Milner orally expressed that it believed that the Company’s ALLL at December 31, 2016 was adequate and that it would address the matters identified by Crowe Horwath during their audit of the Company’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2017.The Company provided Crowe Horwath with a copy of the foregoing disclosures and requested that Crowe Horwath review the disclosures and provide a letter addressed to the SEC as specified by Item 304(a)(3) of RegulationS-K stating that it agrees with the statements made in the Current Report, which Crowe Horwath provided and the Company filed with the SEC as an exhibit to its Current Report on Form8-K filed on April 18, 2018.
2017 Engagement of Crowe Horwath
As described in the Company’s Current Report on Form8-K filed April 12, 2017, in April 2017, the Audit Committee had formerly engaged the services of Crowe Horwath as its independent registered public accounting firm to audit the Company’s consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2017. As a result of the engagement, the Company did not renew the engagement of its previous independent registered public accounting firm, Squar Milner, effective the same date. The change in accounting firms did not result from any dissatisfaction of the Audit Committee or the Company with the quality or delivery of professional services rendered by Squar Milner. The audit reports of Squar Milner on the Company’s consolidated financial statements as of and for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015 did not contain an adverse opinion or a disclaimer of opinion, and were not qualified or modified as to uncertainty, audit scope or accounting principles.
In connection with the audits of the Company’s consolidated financial statements for each of the fiscal years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, there were: (1) no “disagreements” (within the meaning of Item 304(a) of RegulationS-K) between the Company and Squar Milner on any matter of accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure, or auditing scope or procedure, which, if not resolved to the satisfaction of Squar Milner, would cause Squar Milner to make reference to the subject matter of the disagreement in their reports on the Company’s financial statements for such years, and (2) no reportable events, as listed in Item 304(a)(1)(v) of RegulationS-K. The Company provided Squar Milner with a copy of the foregoing disclosures and requested that Squar Milner review the disclosures and provide a letter addressed to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as specified by Item 304(a)(3) of RegulationS-K stating that it agrees with the statements made in the Current Report, which Squar Milner provided and the Company filed with the SEC as an exhibit to its Current Report on Form8-K filed on April 12, 2017.
During 2015 and 2016, the Company did not consult with Crowe Horwath regarding any of the matters or events set forth in Item 304(a)(2)(i) and (ii) of RegulationS-K.
Audit Fees
Audit Fees
Following are disclosures regarding the fees billed by Squar Milner during 2019 and 2018. It is the policy of the Audit Committee that all engagements for auditing services, andnon-audit services be preapproved by the Audit Committee. The preapproval includes a review of the services to be undertaken and the estimated fees that will be incurred. The Audit Committee has considered whether the provision ofnon-audit services by the Public Accountants is compatible with maintaining auditor independence.
Squar Milner performed the following services for the Company relating to the year ended December 31, 2019 and 2018:
Audit Services.
The audit services rendered by Squar Milner consisted of audits of the consolidated financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, and, in connection therewith, their reviews of the Company’s Annual Report on Form10-K during the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, and the Company’s quarterly reports on Form10-Q during the year ended December 31, 2019.
Audit Related Services.
Audit related services rendered by Squar Milner in 2019 and 2018 consisted of services in connection with the Company’s statutory reviews of the December 31, 2019 and 2018, financial statements for the Republic of Palau Branch, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Branch, Republic of the Marshall Islands Branch and the Federated States of Micronesia Branch.
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