No officer or director of an insurer, or any other person acting under the direction thereof, shall directly or indirectly take any action to coerce, manipulate, mislead, or fraudulently influence any accountant engaged in the performance of an audit pursuant to this chapter if that person knew or should have known that the action, if successful, could result in rendering the insurer's financial statements materially misleading. These actions include:

1. (1) To issue or reissue a report on an insurer's financial statements that is not warranted in the circumstances (due to material violations of statutory accounting principles prescribed by the director, generally accepted auditing standards, or other professional or regulatory standards);
2. (2) To fail to perform audit, review, or other procedures required by generally accepted auditing standards or other professional standards;
3. (3) To fail to withdraw an issued report; or
4. (4) To fail to communicate matters to an insurer's audit committee.

Source: SL 2009, ch 271 , § 27.