West Virginia Code 33-33-13 – Conduct of insurer in connection with the preparation of required reports and documents
(a) No director or officer of an insurer shall, directly or indirectly:
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 33-33-13
- Audit committee: means a committee or equivalent body established by the board of directors of an entity for the purpose of overseeing the accounting and financial reporting processes of an insurer or group of insurers, and audits of financial statements of the insurer or group of insurers. See West Virginia Code 33-33-2
- Insurer: means any domestic insurer as defined in section six, article one of this chapter and includes any domestic stock insurance company, mutual insurance company, reciprocal insurance company, farmers" mutual fire insurance company, fraternal benefit society, hospital service corporation, medical service corporation, health care corporation, health maintenance organization, captive insurance company or risk retention group and any licensed foreign or alien insurer defined in article one of this chapter. See West Virginia Code 33-33-2
- State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
(1) Make or cause to be made a materially false or misleading statement to an accountant in connection with any audit, review or communication required under this article; or
(2) Omit to state, or cause another person to omit to state, any material fact necessary in order to make statements made, in light of the circumstances under which the statements were made, not misleading to an accountant in connection with any audit, review or communication required under this article.
(b) No officer or director of an insurer, or any other person acting under the direction thereof, shall directly or indirectly take any action to coerce, manipulate, mislead or fraudulently influence any accountant engaged in the performance of an audit pursuant to this article if that person knew or should have known that the action, if successful, could result in rendering the insurer's financial statements materially misleading.
(c) For purposes of subsection (b) of this section, actions that, "if successful, could result in rendering the insurer's financial statements materially misleading" include, but are not limited to, actions taken at any time with respect to the professional engagement period to coerce, manipulate, mislead or fraudulently influence an accountant:
(1) To issue or reissue a report on an insurer's financial statements that is not warranted in the circumstances due to material violations of statutory accounting principles prescribed by the commissioner, generally accepted auditing standards, or other professional or regulatory standards;
(2) Not to perform audit, review or other procedures required by generally accepted auditing standards or other professional standards;
(3) Not to withdraw an issued report; or
(4) Not to communicate matters to an insurer's audit committee.