On June 20, 2002, the Board of Directors of Southwestern Energy Company ("Southwestern") determined, upon the recommendation of its Audit Committee, to appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP ("PwC") as Southwestern's independent public accountants, replacing Arthur Andersen LLP, which Southwestern dismissed on the same date. This determination followed Southwestern's decision, announced on March 29, 2002, to seek proposals from other independent public accountants to audit its financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2002. The audit reports of Andersen on the consolidated financial statements of Southwestern and subsidiaries as of and for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2001 and December 31, 2000 did not contain any adverse opinion or disclaimer of opinion, nor were they qualified or modified as to uncertainty or audit scope. In addition, there were no modifications as to accounting principles except that the audit reports of Andersen contained an explanatory paragraph with respect to the change in the method of accounting for derivative instruments effective January 1, 2001 as required by the Financial Accounting Standards Board. During Southwestern's two most recent fiscal years ended December 31, 2001 and from January 1, 2002 through the date of this Form 8-K, there were no disagreements between Southwestern and Andersen on any matter of accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure, or auditing scope or procedure, which disagreements, if not resolved to Andersen's satisfaction, would have caused Andersen to make reference to the subject matter of the disagreement in connection with their reports; and there were no reportable events, as described in Item 304 (a) (1) (v) of Regulation S-K. Southwestern provided Andersen with a copy of the foregoing disclosures. Attached as Exhibit 16.1 is a copy of Andersen's letter dated June 20, 2002, stating that it has found no basis for disagreement with such statements. During Southwestern's two most recent fiscal years and through the date of this Form 8-K, Southwestern did not consult PwC with respect to the application of accounting principles to a specified transaction, either completed or proposed, or the type of audit opinion that might be rendered on Southwestern's consolidated financial statements, or any other matters or reportable events listed in Items 304 (a) (2) (i) and (ii) of Regulation S-K. |
