Executive, Auditor Shifting Continues at Peregrine

The software maker on Monday announced it has hired Gary Greenfield, former chief of Merant, as its CEO, replacing interim CEO Richard Nelson who had served for the last month. Nelson will assume the COO position at Peregrine.

Last month, Peregrine was hit with the sudden resignations of both chairman and CEO Steve Gardner and CFO Matt Gless. At the same time, the company announced it had begun an internal investigation into its accounting practices that may result in the restatement of earnings for nearly three years' worth of financial results.

Peregrine's board of directors last month launched an internal investigation into potential accounting inaccuracies, which were brought to the attention of the audit committee by KPMG, the company's independent auditor. Peregrine tapped KPMG last month to replace Arthur Andersen--which is currently on trial for its role in Enron's collapse--for the audit of the company's recently completed fiscal year. The infrastructure management software company disclosed that certain transactions involving revenue recognition irregularities for as much as $100 million have been called into question and may have been recorded during periods in fiscal 2001 and 2002.

Last week, however, Peregrine announced it had fired KPMG as its auditor. The reason: $35 million worth of the questionable transactions were conducted with KPMG and KPMG Consulting. Peregrine officials felt the relationship violated the Securities and Exchange Commission's auditor independence requirements and generally accepted accounting practices. Peregrine replaced KPMG with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Peregrine last month also named Fred Gerson as acting CFO, and Charles La Bella as executive vice president and senior counsel.In addition, Peregrine named John Moores as its new chairman. Moores has been a member of Peregrine's board since 1989 and previously served as chairman from March 1990 through July 2000, when Gardner assumed the role.

The company also announced two resignations Monday. Rod Dammeyer hasleft the board of directors for "personal reasons." Dammeyer was the chairman of the company's audit committee and a member of the board's executive committee, which was investigating the accounting issues. Peregrine says it is actively searching for a replacement for Dammeyer.

Eric Deller, senior vice president and general counsel, also resigned Monday. At the company's request, Deller will remain through the completion of the internal investigation. Peregrine named Kathy Vizas to serve as the company's acting general counsel.

In related news, Peregrine announced it will operate its Remedy product family as an independent unit. Peregrine acquired Remedy last August for $1.08 billion. Larry Garlick, the former co-founder, chairman and CEO of Remedy, will manage this independent unit and report to Peregrine's board of directors. Since the merger, Garlick has served on the company's board of directors.