Jury fails to reach verdict on ex-iSoft directors
Accountants, charged with conspiracy to make misleading statements, could face retrial
A JURY WAS UNABLE to reach a verdict on former iSoft directors charged with conspiracy to make misleading statements.
The three former directors and ex-Big Four partners – Stephen Graham, Timothy Whiston and John Whelan – had appeared before Southwark Crown Court over accounting practices at the software company, which allegedly saw revenues from contracts booked early into its books.
A further hearing has been scheduled for 7 September, and the FSA (pictured) said it will “consider its position for a retrial”.
Whiston is an accountant who once worked at Price Waterhouse and was also FD at iSoft before becoming the CEO; Patrick Cryne is a former partner at KPMG and iSoft’s former chairman; Stephen Graham joined KPMG in 1987 and later became a partner in the iSoft business as well as chief operating officer; and John Whelan is the finance director who took over the role from Whiston. They all faced charges of conspiracy to make misleading statements.
The Accountancy & Actuarial Discipline Board had previously fined RSM Robson Rhodes and partner Glyn Williams £240,000 over the audit of IT business iSoft.
Former iSoft financial controller Ian Storey was excluded from the ICAEW and ordered to pay £20,000 in costs for providing false and misleading information to iSoft’s former auditors in relation to a “purported iSoft contract”.