Here's a doozy. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that PPG Industries may sell its flat glass business to Mexico-based Vitro, SAB de C.V. This according to "a document obtained by" the paper:
A PPG spokesman this afternoon declined to comment on a possible sale, which is mentioned in an undated reference contained in a draft copy of an independent auditor’s report.
Oops! For those who don't know, that independent auditor is none other than PwC and the firm is probably hard at work on the second quarter 10-Q. Our tipster, a person who is familiar with PPG, speculated as to how the document could've ended up in the hands of a reporter at the Gazette:
I pray, PRAY that it was the team from PwC that left […] this undated audit report around somewhere [and] a reporter saw it. Probably someone's roommate. PPG releases earnings next Thursday, and they typically announce deals the morning before earnings release.
Sure enough, PPG announces earnings next Thursday before the markets open. Now, it's possible that someone from PPG left the report lying around, but our tipster is skeptical:
Yes, PPG would have a draft copy of the report, but PPG uses the Workiva cloud-based SEC reporting tool, everything is retained in the cloud, including the audit report.
So of course we can't conclude that someone at PwC is responsible for the leak, but it does serve as a good reminder to for everyone to be extra careful with client information. We'll see what happens with their earnings report next week.
An email to PwC seeking comment was not immediately returned.
