Aura Systems Warns About Past Audits

Long-troubled Aura Systems Inc., a maker of mobile electric power generators, said its outside auditor resigned and warned that past audits may have been based on inaccurate information. Pannell Kerr Forster, Aura’s auditor since 1992, resigned because of unspecified business reasons, according to Aura’s 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As previously reported, El Segundo-based Aura has been under investigation by the SEC for irregular accounting practices since October 1998. The auditor told Aura it discovered information that “may materially impact the fairness or reliability of previously issued audit reports or the underlying financial statements of Aura Systems.” Neither Rex Poulsen, the partner in charge of Aura’s audits at Pannell Kerr Forster, nor Aura Chief Executive Harry Kurtz and Chief Financial Officer Steven Veen were immediately available to comment. Aura shares fell half a cent to close at 50 cents in over-the-counter trading.