Central Vermont Public Service was the top scoring utility company on Forbes Magazine s The 100 Most Trustworthy Companies list last week. The companies which made the list had what Forbes called the most transparent and conservative accounting practices and most prudent management.
Companies which made the cut were divided into small, medium, and big cap categories, depending upon their market capitalization. CVPS scored third overall in the small cap category, and rated higher than other electric utilities in all categories. It joins big name companies such as Lowe s, Whirlpool, and Columbia Sportswear on the list.
Over 8,000 companies traded on US stock exchanges were considered for the Forbes list. The scoring was performed by Audit Integrity, which is an independent financial analysis company based in Los Angeles. Every three months, Audit Integrity assessed each company for an accounting and governance risk score (AGR). Among several criteria they had to meet to qualify for the list, companies had to have market caps of $200 million or more and conservative" or average" AGR ratings for the last four quarters. In the ranking process, companies are penalized for practices such as excessive executive compensation, a high level of insider trading relative to similar companies, high management turnover, and high levels of short-term executive compensation.
(Sources: The Brattleboro Reformer and Forbes.com)