CEO Meg Whitman avoided calling it a fraud, but said Tuesday that there were “serious accounting improprieties, disclosure failures and outright misrepresentations at Autonomy Corporation PLC.”
deceptive accounting, failure to disclose, and lying.
Failure to disclose is, imho, the worst. That means you couldn't audit it even if you wanted to. It's like buying a house with a cracked foundation that isn't disclosed. If you miss it, then it's your tough luck.
This is not to say that HP couldn't have done better, but if they don't go into court after some of that cash they paid for that company, THEN we'll know that they really were idiots.
“Autonomy makes search engines that help companies find vital information stored across computer networks.”
Maybe HP should have tried out some of Autonomy Corps equipment prior to purchase.