Cbi Holding Company

1490 Words6 Pages
BACKGROUND The auditing case investigated involved CBI Holding Company, Inc., a New York based firm, which served as the parent company for several wholly-owned subsidiaries, principal among them Common Brothers, Inc. CBI’s subsidiaries marketed an extensive line of pharmaceutical products. CBI’s principal market area stretched from the northeastern United States into the upper Midwest. In 1991 Robert Castello, CBI’s president and chairman of the board, sold 48 percent ownership interest in his company to Trust Company of the West (TCW), a diversified investment firm. The purchase agreement between the two parties gave TCW the right to appoint two members of CBI’s board; Castello retained the right to appoint the three remaining board members. The purchase agreement also identified several so–called “control-triggering events.” If any one of these events occurred, TCW would have the right to take control of CBI. Examples of control-triggering events included CBI’s failure to maintain certain financial ratios at a specified level and unauthorized loans to Castello and other CBI executives. Several of Castello’s subordinates intentionally misrepresented CBI’s reported operating results and financial condition for the company’s fiscal years ended April 30, 1992 and 1993. In March 1994, Ernst & young withdrew its opinion on CBI’s 1992 and 1993 financial statements after learning of the material distortions in those statements that were due to Castello’s fraudulent schemes. A few months later in August 1994 the company filed for bankruptcy. Facts and Related Statement of Auditing Standards: In both 1992 and 1993, Ernst & Young identified the CBI audit as a “close monitoring engagement.” The accounting firm’s audit manual defined a close monitoring engagement as “ one in which the company being audited presents significant risk

More about Cbi Holding Company

Open Document