Shocking, simply shocking. And yeah, Autonomy was one of the stupidest major acquisitions I can remember.
If the auditors are not accountable, why do we need them anyway? The trust for this institution is well shaken after Enron and now Autonomy!
I’m confused by the story saying that the restated numbers were signed off by Ernst & Young. E&Y stated that they didn’t have sufficient evidence to render an actual audit opinion so that’s definitely not signing off on the new numbers. That really makes no sense - E&Y would have issued a disclaimer of opinion which basically means they weren’t able to complete the audit assignment.
Anecdote: I worked for HP once upon a time. We were given yearly reviews to fill out for ourselves, and our co-workers. I gave myself top marks across the board, as did my co-workers (deserved, believe it or not). A requirement to get an yearly bonus. In my review meeting with an outsourced manager from India, I was told that I would not be getting a bonus, that it required administrative approval which was not forthcoming. I suggested that the review process was a farce, and was let go within the month.
Autonomy CFO convicted. The UK’s SFO, as usual, doesn’t come out of this looking great after its decision not to prosecute.
FRC finally initiates disciplinary action against Autonomy auditors, executives. Probably won’t end up doing anything though.
Oracle is suing a reseller in the UK. That’s not why I’m posting this though. I was intrigued by this line in the article:
There’s got to be a story behind that, right? Why are Andorra(!) and Bosnia the only European countries? Is Andorra the hardware equivalent of New Zealand app soft launches? Supposedly they weren’t officially on the market in the EEA, but there are other, much larger non-EEA countries.