Ceres Fires Auditor KPMG

Ceres Inc. fired Amsterdam-based accounting firm KPMG as its auditor on Wednesday due to language used in Ceres’ 2015 and 2014 annual reports. The Thousand Oaks agricultural biotech announced the decision in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The announcement said that on Feb. 17, both the audit committee and board of directors ratified the dismissal of KPMG and agreed to hire New York-based Marcum as the company’s new independent public accounting firm. The decision was made over a difference of opinion regarding a paragraph in KPMG’s “going concern” statements in its past two yearly reports on Ceres. According to the filing, the disputed paragraph reads: “The company has incurred recurring losses and expects that the current level of cash and cash equivalents will only be sufficient to fund operations until January 2016 which raises substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern. Management’s plans in regard to these matters are also described in note 1. The consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.” Ceres shares closed down 2 cents, or 5.8 percent, to 29 cents on the Nasdaq.