P23001: Auditing The U.K. arm of Deloitte got a record fine from Britain’s accounting watchdog in September. With the full judgment against the firm laid bare last week, you can see why. If there was ever proof that auditors can get too close to their clients, it’s the accounting giant’s handling of former U.K. technology darling Autonomy Corp. Deloitte LLP wrongly gave a clean bill of health to Autonomy’s accounts for 2009 and 2010. These financial statements misleadingly suggested the revenue from shifting hardware came from software, while related costs were inappropriately classified as sales and marketing expenses, the U.K.’s Financial Reporting Council argued. That helped sustain the impression that Autonomy was a fast-growing, high-margin “pure software” business — a perception that was critical to its stock-market rating. The group was subsequently acquired by HP Inc., which later took a jumbo impairment charge and alleged Autonomy had committed fraud.”