Lee Enterprises dismisses accountant, hires KPMG

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) _ Newspaper publisher Lee Enterprises Inc. said Tuesday in regulatory filings that it has replaced its accountant.

Documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission said the company board's audit committee dismissed Deloitte & Touche as its independent public accounting firm for Lee Enterprises Inc., Pulitzer Inc. and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The filing said there have been no adverse opinions in the audit reports for the most recent two fiscal years.

The documents also said Lee had not had disagreements with Deloitte on "any matter of accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure or auditing scope or procedure."

In a second filing on Tuesday, Lee said its audit committee appointed KPMG to audit the company's financial statements for the fiscal year ending Sept. 28, 2008, subject to KPMG's client approval procedures.

A filing on Jan. 10 indicated Lee paid Deloitte & Touche nearly $1.7 million for audit fees and other services for each year 2006 and 2007. That document indicated that the company had not selected its accountant for the fiscal year ending Sept. 28, 2008.

"The company intends to solicit proposals for audit and tax services for 2008, including from Deloitte," the filing said.

Davenport-based Lee owns newspaper and online products in 23 states. It publishes 50 daily newspapers including those in St. Louis, Mo.; Lincoln, Neb.; Madison, Wis., and Tucson, Ariz. It also has 300 weekly newspapers and specialty publications.

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On the Net: http://www.lee.net

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