Google man settles accounting claim at SkillSoft
Ernst & Young censured by SEC over inadequate audit expertise at software company
Google’s chief legal officer and Ernst & Young have settled claims by the
US Securities and Exchange Commission for accounting misstatements at the
executive’s former employer, SkillSoft Plc.
David Drummond, who served as chief financial officer at New Hampshire-based
Skillsoft until 2002 while it was known as SmartForce, agreed to pay $574,000
(£287,000) to settle claims that he let the company overstate revenue, the
SEC said in a
statement yesterday.
The SEC censured Ernst & Young in Dublin, which agreed to pay $725,000,
because it did not assign auditors with enough expertise to examine the software
company’s accounts.
‘In retrospect, Mr Drummond acknowledges that he would have been better
served in his role at SmartForce had he possessed an accounting background,’ his
lawyer, Harvey Wolkoff, told
Bloomberg
news agency.