Deloitte Accountants, B.V., had served as Royal Ahold’s “group auditor” since 1973.8
The “group auditor” designation means that the Netherlands-based Deloitte Accountants oversaw the audits of the company’s annual consolidated fnancial statements,
although accounting frms in other countries, such as the United States, participated
in those audits. Deloitte shocked Royal Ahold’s top executives when the accounting
frm announced in early 2003 that it was suspending its fscal year 2002 audit of the
company. According to Deloitte, auditors assigned to various operating units of Royal
Ahold had uncovered questionable accounting and fnancial reporting practices that
had to be thoroughly investigated before the audit could be completed.
Deloitte’s announcement sent Royal Ahold’s stock price into a nosedive. Over
a short period of time in early 2003, the company’s stock price plummeted by
approximately 70 percent. During this same time frame, Standard & Poor’s and
Moody’s slashed Royal Ahold’s credit rating, which drove down the market price of
the company’s outstanding debt securities and made it diffcult for the company to
raise additional capital in either the debt or equity markets. The problems facing
Royal Ahold caused one London-based fnancial analyst to suggest that there was a
“very real risk” that the large frm would be forced into bankruptcy