Audit firms sued in HP's Autonomy acquisition [Reuters]
A new shareholder lawsuit over Hewlett-Packard's acquisition of British software firm Autonomy has named Big Four audit firms Deloitte and KPMG as defendants, alleging they missed numerous red flags about Autonomy's accounting. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in federal court in San Jose, California, also named HP's board of directors, officers, and former executives, alleging breach of duty and negligence for their role in HP's acquisition Autonomy. […] In a statement, KPMG said it was not engaged to do any audit work or oversee the Deloitte audit work being questioned. KPMG provided limited services not related to Autonomy's audit and "we can say with confidence that we acted responsibly and with integrity," the firm said. Deloitte said it had nothing to add to its statement last week that it was not responsible for due diligence on the Autonomy acquisition. Deloitte also denied last week that it had any knowledge of any accounting improprieties or misrepresentations in Autonomy's financial statements.
Anglo Irish Bank sues Ernst & Young [FT]
Anglo Irish Bank has begun legal action against its former accountant Ernst & Young, which audited the lender’s financial returns in the years leading up to Ireland’s financial crisis and the bank’s nationalisation in 2009. The law suit is the first example of an Irish bank taking legal proceedings against its auditor following the country’s banking crisis, which ultimately forced Dublin to accept a €67.5bn international bail out. “IBRC can confirm that it issued proceedings . . . 27 November 2012, against Ernst & Young, Chartered Accountants,” said the bank. “These proceedings relate to the role of Ernst & Young as auditors to Anglo Irish Bank Plc pre-nationalisation.”
Deloitte CEO: Left Meeting With Obama 'Extraordinarily Optimistic' [Dow Jones]
Deloitte LLP CEO Joe Echevarria said he left the meeting "extraordinarily optimistic" that Washington policy makers understand the need to instill certainty and prevent the combination of sharp spending cuts and tax increases set to take place at the beginning of next year. He said Mr. Obama began the conversation by discussing tax rates and revenues, and the need for those in the upper 2% to pay their share. "He started with rates for what we would define as the upper 2%,…that we have to pay our fair share and I think everyone was in agreement with that notion," Mr. Echevarria said.
It's not all leather-bound chairs and free refreshments, you know.
No one reported shot, stabbed or slashed in New York City on Monday, police sources say [NYDN]
To be sure, someone did pull a trigger Monday — a 16-year-old walked into Bronx Lebanon Hospital in the early evening with a gunshot wound to his right thigh. But police later determined the teen accidentally shot himself and was not involved in a crime. The streak ended 11:20 a.m. Tuesday when a 27-year-old man was shot in Brooklyn at Ralph and Flatlands Ave. That was the first shooting since 10:25 p.m. Sunday, when a man in Bedford-Stuyvesant was shot in the head and badly wounded by a gunman wearing a red and black jacket and black hat.