Shell Finance Director Next To Blame
Judy Boynton, Royal Dutch/ Shell finance director, was the next to blame in the oil group’s crisis, caused by the group"s accounting of its oil and gas reserves. After last night audit into how it overstated reserves by 20%, or 3.9bn barrels, the future of her career became obscure. In a today statement to the stock exchange, the group is going to mark a radical departure from previous practice when it commits to hiring specialist external auditors to review its oil and gas reserves in the future. The overstating of reserves, which was first reported in January, has prompted a £2bn drop in the company"s stock market value as well as the departure of two senior executives. As well as the uncertainty over Ms Boynton, the positions of the company"s new chairman, Jeroen van der Veer, and vice-chairman, Malcolm Brinded, were also being questioned yesterday. All were in senior positions when the overbooking of reserves took place. A spokesman for Shell refused to comment on reports over the weekend about the internal review.