“You have to rely on audited financials” “You have to rely on credit rating agencies”. Same old dumb story! (excuse)

Sir, Chris Nuttal and Richard Waters, with respect to Hewlett Packard’s messed up acquisition of Autonomy, quote Meg Whitman, HP’s CEO saying, “But in the end, you have to rely on audited financials and we did.”, “Blame game thrusts tech group’s due diligence under the spotlight” November 22.

How wrong! The first responsibility of anyone in Whitman’s shoes should be… "Is there anyway something like this could be worth this much and, if so, let us ascertain those conditions are valid, no matter what anyone else opines."

Hers is precisely the same defensive argument put out by bank regulators with their “in their end you have to rely on credit rating agencies”.

The truth is that if we shareholders, citizens and taxpayers don’t put an end to this stupidity and lack of accountability, it will put an end to us.

The way I look at things bank regulators like Mario Draghi and Lord Turner, are just about the same as failed CEOs like Meg Whitman.