Claimed assets of companies at time of collapse

ABC Learning: claimed net assets of $2.23 billion in February 2008, but clearly this was more than $3 billion off the mark now that the adminstrators have been called in. Brian Long from Ernst & Young, the old AMP auditor, was the man in charge of this and he was supposed to be the tough guying cleaning up the Pitcher Partners mess.

Pasminco: declared a $23 million net profit for 1999-00 and then collapsed whilst claiming to have net assets of $1.5 billion. Alan Beckett from Ernst & Young signed the accounts and then kept auditing the reborn Zinifex for the next few years.

One-tel: collapsed in 2001 and the last published balance sheet claimed net assets of $945 million. Stephen La Greca from BDO Nelson Parkhill signed the accounts as auditor.

HIH Insurance: placed into liquidation on March 15, 2001 and the 1999-00 annual report claimed net assets of $953 million. John Buttle from the now-defunct Arthur Andersen was signing audit partner.

Sons of Gwalia: somehow reported a $12.23 million profit for the 6 months to December 2003 when this balance sheet claimed net assets of $728 million. Was in administration just a few months later, proving what an inaccurate picture was painted by all involved, including auditor VW Tidy from Ernst & Young's Perth office.

Allco Finance Group: reported a $1.73 billion full-year loss for 2007-08 but this still left it with net assets of $545 million when the administrators were called, something auditor Chris Wittingham from KPMG signed off.

MFS/Octaviar: plunged to a belated $221 million net loss for the half to December 31 after writing down the MFS Pacific Finance division by $246 million. A much bigger full year loss is coming.

ION: the car part company collapsed in late 2004, but the 2003-04 results claimed a net profit of $29.7 million and $297.1 million in net assets. DA Watson from Deloittes signed the accounts as "true and fair" on September 17 and adminstrators were called in on December 7, 2004.
Check out Delisted's summary of what happened after that.

Rubicon Europe: whilst a big loss slashed its claimed net assets from $537 million to $298.2 million in the 2007-08 balance sheet, the property investor was suspended in November 2008 and still staggers in waiting for the corporate undertakers to be formally appointed. The auditor was Victor Clarke from PwC.

Windimurra Vanadium: receivers were appointed in February 2009 with claimed net assets of $196 million in the 2007-08 annual report. The auditor was KPMG's Brett Fullarton.

Centaur Mining & Exploration: collapsed in May 2001 with $650 million in debts and the last annual report claimed it had net assets of $110 million. PKF's Michael Phillips was the audit signing partner.

Nylex: the creation of former BTR CEO Alan Jackson which launched as Austrim and then rebranded and embarked on a long death dive to finally call in the administrators in February 2009. The full year accounts for 2007-08 released in August 2008 claimed to have net assets of $88.3 million. The auditor was Michael Bray from KPMG.

Copperco: the Perth-based mining company claimed to be worth $79.5 million in its final balance sheet before it collapsed in November 2008. The auditor came from Ernst & Young's Perth office.

Bill Express: collapsed in mid-2008 but the last accounts in February of that year claimed to have net assets of $66.45 million. The auditor was BW Szentirmay from KPMG.

Monarch Gold: Michael Kiernan's mining outfit collapsed in 2008 when it was claiming to have $58.45 million in net assets. The auditor was Peter Buchholz from PwC's Perth office.

Allco HIT: huge write-downs, the biggest in the Strategic Finance business due to enormous bad debts in New Zealand, sent the 2007-08 result plunging to a net loss of $322.2 million. This left total equity of $54 million and the receiver was called in on November 13. Chris Wittingham from KPMG is the auditor.

Eisa: Damian Brady's house of cards collapsed shortly after the dot-com bubble burst but the 1999 annual report claimed net assets of $39.4 million with Roger Amos from KPMG the signing auditor.

Commander Communications: after the new CEO took an axe to the balance sheet in February 2008, the net assets were only at $20.68 million by the time it collapsed six months later. The final auditor was RD Dring from PwC.

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