Alliedco, a NASDAQ-listed manufacturer of equipment for the restaurant industry, has long used Cheshire & Manx as its external auditor. Cheshire & Manx is a “second-tier” audit firm with 5,000 employees. It has developed an excellent working relationship with Alliedco’s senior management, cemented both by a close personal friendship between Alliedco’s chief executive officer and Cheshire & Manx’s senior audit partner, and by the fact that Cheshire & Manx performs its audit services for a substantially lower fee than any of the “big four” auditors. To achieve these cost savings, Cheshire & Manx relies substantially on workpapers prepared by Alliedco’s internal audit department. Over the 15 years of its engagement with Alliedco, Cheshire & Manx has always issued unqualified opinions on the company’s financial statements and internal controls. This past year Cheshire & Manx paid $10 million to settle a securities fraud lawsuit brought against it by shareholders of one of Alliedco’s competitors in the restaurant supply business. The allegation was that the company had engaged in “channel stuffing”—inflating profits by reporting sales that had not yet occurred—and that Cheshire & Man was culpable in failing to uncover the fraud. PCAOB also issued an inspection report criticizing Cheshire & Manx’s performance of that company’s audit, noting in particular that the auditor had relied excessively on the services of internal audit and on management’s estimates of key accounting numbers. PCAOB banned two of Cheshire & Manx’s senior partners from the industry for life in connection with this investigation. You are an outside director and head of Alliedco’s audit committee. The issue of Cheshire & Manx’s renewal as the company’s auditor is before you for decision. The chief executive officer has let it be known that she strongly favors retaining the auditor for the coming year. What do you do?