US Edition 
HP steps up action over Autonomy
Hewlett-Packard still has investigators from accountancy firm PwC in Autonomy’s Cambridge headquarters “lifting up filing cabinets” to gather evidence against the company, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt.
Sources close to the situation claim that PwC’s forensic accounting team has spent the week searching for fresh evidence that Autonomy did not fully disclose its position.
HP is facing calls to disclose full details of the accounting improprieties it claims to have unearthed at Autonomy.
HP is locked in battle with the British entrepreneur Mike Lynch, over whether the software firm he founded was transparent in its accountancy before the business was sold to HP for $10bn (£6.2bn).
Autonomy, which specialises in searching “unstructured data” such as voicemails, texts and video, has been accused by HP of using serious accounting improprieties to wilfully misrepresent the business and inflate the price of the 2011 deal. HP made the allegations in filings to the Serious Fraud Office and America’s Securities and Exchange Commission last month, as it wrote off $8.8bn, including more than $5bn on the value of Autonomy.
Mr Lynch has strongly denied any wrongdoing and called on HP to release full details of the allegations. However, the US computer firm has not said any more beyond its initial statements.
The eleventh-hour effort by PwC comes days ahead of HP’s annual filing with America’s Securities and Exchange Commission, when the US computer giant could be made to release details of its claims.
An HP spokesman said: “While a large number of documents about this matter, as well as statements from employees, have already been collected, the investigation continues.”