SECTION 365:25-15-4. Independent Certified Public Accountant

(a)   Designation of Independent Certified Public Accountant. Each company shall provide to the Commissioner the name and address of the independent certified public accounting firm retained to conduct the annual audit required under this regulation not less than six months before the date on which the first annual audit conducted by such firm is to be filed with the Commissioner in accordance with Section 3 of this Subchapter. The certified public accountant that is retained to conduct the annual audit must be selected from the list of approved certified public accounting firms or individual certified public accountants maintained by the Insurance Commissioner.

(b)   Notification of Adverse Financial Condition. A company shall require the independent certified public accountant conducting its annual audit to immediately notify in writing an officer and all members of the Board of Directors of the company of any determination by the independent certified public accountant that the company has materially misstated its financial condition in its report to the Insurance Commissioner as required in Sections 311 or 6470.11 of Title 36 of the Oklahoma Statutes. The company, or its designated captive insurance manager, shall furnish such notification to the Insurance Commissioner within five working days of receipt thereof.

(c)   Availability and Maintenance of Working Papers of the Independent Certified Public Accountant.

(1)   Each company shall require the independent certified public accountant to make available for review by the Insurance Commissioner, or his appointed agent or examiner, the work papers prepared in the conduct of the audit of the company. The company shall require that the accountant retain the audit work papers for a period of not less than seven (7) years after the period reported upon.

(2)   The aforementioned review by the Insurance Commissioner shall be considered investigations and/or examination and all working papers obtained during the course of such investigations and/or examination shall be confidential pursuant to 36 O.S. § 6470.13(B). The company shall require that the independent certified public accountant provide copies of any of the working papers which the Insurance Commissioner considers relevant. Such working papers may be retained by the Insurance Commissioner.

(3)   "Working Papers" as referred to in this section means procedures followed, the tests performed, the information obtained, and the conclusions reached pertinent to its audit of the financial statements of a company, including but not necessarily limited to, schedules, analyses, reconciliations, abstracts, memoranda, narratives, flow charts, copies of company records or other documents prepared or obtained by the accountant and his employees in the conduct of their examination of the company.

(d)   Rotation of Audit Partners. A company shall not file an annual audit in which a partner or other person responsible for rendering such annual audit has acted in that capacity for more than seven (7) consecutive years. Each company filing an annual audit shall disqualify such person from acting in that or a similar capacity for the same company or its insurance subsidiaries or affiliates for a period of two (2) years. A company may make application to the Commissioner for relief from the above rotation requirement on the basis of unusual circumstances.

[Source: Added at 22 Ok Reg 2045, eff 7-14-05; Amended at 31 Ok Reg 1897, eff 9-15-14; Amended at 32 Ok Reg 1953, eff 9-15-15]