Forbes.com Names NorthWestern Energy as One of its Top "100 Most Trustworthy Companies" in America

Recently, Forbes.com named NorthWestern Energy as one of its top “100 Most Trustworthy Companies” in America. The list, compiled by Audit Integrity, recognizes the nations’ top 100 companies that have consistently demonstrated transparent and conservative accounting practices as well as solid corporate governance and management.

“It is a great credit to the integrity of our employees and also to our Board of Directors,” said Bob Rowe, president and CEO of NorthWestern Energy.

The evaluation penalizes companies for unusual or excessive executive compensation, high levels of management turnover, substantial insider trading relative to their corporate peers or high levels of short-term executive compensation, which encourages management to focus on short-term results. Good housekeeping practices leave companies better prepared to handle an economic downturn, especially one as severe as right now.

"As a publicly-traded utility that is one of the largest companies in our region, we are in a position of trust.” explained Rowe.  “I’m particularly pleased because the analysis recognizes current NorthWestern practices that make us among the most trustworthy companies from a corporate governance perspective.”

In light of events like corporate scandals, bankruptcies, and the recession that have made news in recent years, Forbes had set out to identify the most transparent and trustworthy businesses that are traded on U.S. stock exchanges, based on an evaluation of 8,000 companies.

To do so, it turned to Audit Integrity, an independent financial analytics company based in Los Angeles. Audit Integrity looks beyond the raw data on income statements and balance sheets to assess the true quality of corporate accounting and management practices. As early as August 2005, Audit Integrity's proprietary rating system signaled potential problems at Lehman Brothers. In December of 2005, it gave American International Group a significant downgrade. Last year it flagged the Chicago management consultancy Huron Consulting Group several months before the company announced it was restating its financial statements for three fiscal years and its chief executive, chief financial officer, and accounting chief resigned.

For the fourth year, Audit Integrity has provided Forbes with a list of companies that are at the other end of the spectrum from the beleaguered firms that make so many of today's headlines. Audit Integrity finds that its 100 Most Trustworthy Companies have consistently demonstrated transparent and conservative accounting practices and solid corporate governance and management. The companies that make this list “are the good guys," said Jack Zwingli, the chief executive of Audit Integrity. "They've consistently shown accuracy and transparency in their financial reporting."

According to Forbes.com, to qualify for the top 100 list, a company must have the following:  

• Market caps of $200 million or more at the time Audit Integrity prepared the list
• Accounting and Governance Risk ratings of "conservative" or "average" for each of the last four quarters
• No amended filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission or material restatements over the last year
• A high rank in Audit Integrity's Equity Risk Ranking, which indicates a positive forecast for equity returns  

Audit Integrity sorts its 100 Most Trustworthy Companies into three groupings according to market capitalization.  With its market cap of approximately $950 million, NorthWestern Energy is recognized on the Small-Cap list.

Forbes recognized only a handful of other utilities including Avista, Nicor, Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc., Ameren, Consolidated Edison, IDACORP, El Paso Electric, and Central Vermont Public Service.

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