Walter, a Chartered Accountant, Provided Services to ABC Manufacturing Inc

question 24

Essay

Walter, a chartered accountant, provided services to ABC Manufacturing Inc. owned by Mr. White. Walter took care of all of ABC's financing, bookkeeping, payroll management, financial statement preparation and tax planning and preparation. Early in January, White came to Walter to inform him that he was thinking of selling the business. He explained that the slow economy had considerably dampened his sales and that he wished to sell the business as a going concern before the situation became critical and he might be forced to sell at a loss or liquidate assets to satisfy creditors. Walter listened carefully but suggested that White should wait and sell until after he prepared some current financial statements from which he could offer some constructive advice about the fortunes of the company. Walter also told White that, based on his understanding of the situation, ABC could easily be restored to financial health. Walter prepared draft statements using certain assumptions about the availability, terms and cost of bridge financing and the reduction in operating expenses that could be achieved by rearranging production in certain ways. The assumptions were not fully explained on the statements as Walter preferred to meet with White and discuss the matter fully. However, a footnote stated that "the figures are based on receipt of interim financing and predicted cost reductions." Walter then sent the statements to White for his review and invited further discussion.
Two weeks later, Walter received a telephone call from White who told him he had sold the business at a substantial profit to Black. The purchaser had been impressed with the financial position of the company based on Walter's most recent statements and had taken the statements to his bank in order to secure a loan for the purchase price. The loan was granted. Within the first six months under Black's ownership, ABC's sales continued to fall. Black's new accountant prepared financial statements that portrayed a much more dismal situation than had Walter's. Within another month, one of ABC's major suppliers forced the company into bankruptcy.
Discuss the liability of the parties in this case, if any, and render a decision.

---

Definitions:

File Tab

A component of the user interface in many applications that provides access to file-related operations such as open, save, and print.

Links

References or connections between two pieces of information, often hyperlinks on the web, that allow users to quickly navigate from one source to another.

Encrypted

Refers to data that has been converted into a secure format that prevents unauthorized access, typically through the use of algorithms and cryptographic keys.

Command-line Option

An instruction or parameter specified in the command line interface to control the behavior of a program.