Beazer gets sage advice: Dump your CEO

CTW Investment Group, a leading shareholder advisory group has a tip for the board at Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (NASDAQ: BZH): Your company is facing legal problems and accounting woes along with a decline in fundamentals that have combined to erase the vast majority of the stock's value in the past year. Maybe, just maybe, it's time to think about hiring a new CEO.

The company won't be able to report its quarter on time, but did tell investors that it will be taking a $230 million pretax charge. The U.S. Attorney's Office and the SEC are also investigating the company. In June, the company fired its Chief Accounting Officer after it caught him trying to destroy documents -- never a good sign.

I've written about Beazer's woes here and here.

All of these scandals point to serious corporate governance and internal controls problems -- if the business was going swimmingly, you could argue that the CEO should stay on while the board and management look for a remedy.

But it doesn't look like Ian McCarthy has done anything right, and it's probably time for him to go. If anything, the fact that he isn't gone yet raises questions about the board of directors.