Cendant Corp.'s board has created an independent audit committee, the result of a shareholder proposal from the New York City Employees' Retirement System.
A new amendment to the company's bylaws states new appointees to the audit committee will be composed solely of directors with no direct or indirect affiliation with the company.
In response to the amendment, Cendant's four-member audit committee resigned yesterday and today was replaced by four former directors of HFS, which merged with CUC International late last year, creating Cendant.
The new appointees have no connection to the merged company and are considered independent directors.
``NYCERS commends Cendant for its swift resolution of this very important issue,'' said Alan G. Hevesi, New York City comptroller.
The fund owns approximately 3.8 million shares of Cendant, worth about $50.9 million.
Cendant is mired in an investigation of massive accounting fraud.
