惠普收购之前Autonomy就已问题多多

When Autonomy Corp. was starting up in this historic university town, founder Mike Lynch stuck a sign on an office door that read 'Authorized Personnel Only.' Behind the door, he told visitors, were 500 engineers working on 'hush-hush' projects.

当Autonomy Corp.在英国历史悠久的大学城剑桥起家时，其创始人林奇(Mike Lynch)在一间办公室的门上挂了一块牌子，上面写着“仅限授权人员出入。他告诉来访者，门后有500名工程师在进行一个秘密项目。

The door, in fact, led to a broom closet, Mr. Lynch recounted in a 2010 speech. By then, Autonomy had grown from its founding in 1996 to one of Europe's largest and fastest-growing software companies. Hewlett-Packard Co. bought it in October 2011 for more than $11 billion.

林奇在2010年的一次演讲中说道，那扇门其实只是通向一个杂物间。在2010年前，Autonomy已经从1996年的一家初创公司变身为欧洲最大且增速最快的软件公司之一。2011年10月，惠普(Hewlett-Packard Co.)以逾110亿美元的价格收购了这家公司。

Now, following allegations last week by H-P that Autonomy made 'outright misrepresentations' to inflate its financial results, U.S. authorities are trying to establish whether much of the company's business may also have been a facade. Meanwhile, questions are mounting about how H-P failed to uncover the alleged irregularities ahead of buying Autonomy, particularly as some outside analysts raised concerns about Autonomy's accounting for years.

眼下，随着上周惠普指控Autonomy“严重虚假陈述以夸大其财务业绩，美国有关部门正试图确定该公司的大部分业务是否也仅仅只是一个“门面。与此同时，有关惠普为何没能在收购Autonomy之前发现其所声称的违规问题的质疑也越来越多，尤其是在一些外部分析师多年来一直对Autonomy的会计问题表示关切的情形下。

In May, H-P fired Mr. Lynch, citing poor performance by his unit. Last week, the company wrote down the value of Autonomy by $8.8 billion, blaming more than half the charge on what it said was Autonomy's misleading accounting.

今年5月，惠普解雇了林奇，理由是他所在的部门表现不佳。上周，该公司将Autonomy的价值减记88亿美元，称其中超过一半是Autonomy在会计报表上误导惠普造成的。

Mr. Lynch has come out swinging, denouncing H-P's assertions as 'completely and utterly wrong.' In an interview Monday, he defended Autonomy's practices and said that many of the allegations stem from the difference between U.S. accounting standards and the international ones Autonomy followed. He said it mostly amounted to 'a lot of nitty-gritty about small amounts of revenue on certain deals.' He said every sale valued at more than $100,000 would have been reviewed by Autonomy's auditors.

林奇则大力替自己辩护，他说惠普的指控大错特错。在周一接受采访时林奇替Autonomy的做法辩护，称惠普的大部分指控源自美国会计准则和Autonomy遵循的国际会计准则之间存在的差异。林奇说，基本都是一些无关紧要的细节，是和某些交易相关的小钱。林奇说每笔价值高于10万美元的销售记录已经过Autonomy审计师的核查。

'H-P made a series of assertions without providing any evidence. We'd like to see some evidence,' Mr. Lynch said. 'Where's the beef in this?' he added.

林奇说，惠普的一系列说法都没有提供任何证据，我们希望看到一些证据。他说，干货在哪里？

Interviews in California and England with former Autonomy employees, business partners and attorneys close to the case paint a picture of a hard-driving sales culture shaped by Mr. Lynch's desire for rapid growth. They describe him as a domineering figure, who on at least a few occasions berated employees he believed weren't measuring up.

本报在加利福尼亚和英国采访了一些了解内情的Autonomy前员工、商业伙伴和律师，从他们讲述的情况看，该公司在林奇快速扩张欲望的推动下，形成了一种雄心勃勃的销售文化。在他们口中，林奇是一个独断专行的人物，他至少曾在几个场合严厉斥责过他认为不够格的员工。

Along the way, these people say, Autonomy used aggressive accounting practices to make sure revenue from software licensing kept growing─thereby boosting the British company's valuation. The firm recognized revenue upfront that under U.S. accounting rules would have been deferred, and struck 'round-trip transactions'─deals where Autonomy agreed to buy a client's products or services while at the same time the client purchased Autonomy software, according to these people.

这些人士说，Autonomy一直采用激进的会计手段来确保软件授权业务的收入保持增长，从而提高公司的估值。根据美国会计准则，某些收入本应延后确认，而Autonomy的做法是这些收入还没有到账就予以了确认。这些人士说，Autonomy还从事“往返交易，即它同意购买某客户的产品或服务，而这家客户也回过头来购买它的软件。

'The rules aren't that complicated,' said Dan Mahoney of accounting research business CFRA, who covered Autonomy until it was acquired. He said that Autonomy had the hallmarks of a company that recognized revenue too aggressively. He said neither U.S. nor international accounting rules would allow companies to recognize not-yet collected revenue from customers that might be at risk not to pay, which he said appears to be the case in some of Autonomy's transactions.

会计研究公司CFRA的马奥尼(Dan Mahoney)说，规则没那么复杂。CFRA曾将Autonomy列为研究对象，直到它被惠普收购。马奥尼说，Autonomy身上存在确认收入过于激进的特征。他说，不管是美国会计准则还是国际会计准则，都不允许公司确认还没有从客户手中收到、可能存在赖账风险的收入。他说，Autonomy某些交易的收入似乎就属于这种情况。

A person familiar with H-P's investigation said the company is confident the deals are improper even under the international accounting standards Mr. Lynch cites. 'We've looked at this very closely,' this person said.

一位了解惠普调查行动的人士说，惠普相信，即使按照林奇辩称的国际会计准则衡量，这些交易也是不妥当的。这位人士说，我们在这方面做了细致的调查。

In a statement issued Saturday, H-P said its 'ongoing investigation into the activities of certain former Autonomy employees has uncovered numerous transactions clearly designed to inflate the underlying financial metrics of the company before its acquisition' including several using the tactics and techniques described in this article.

惠普上周六发表声明说，对Autonomy某些前员工的活动正在进行的调查发现，该公司多笔交易明显是为了夸大Autonomy在它被收购之前的财务指标，其中好几笔交易都采用了本文所述的那些手段和技巧。

Autonomy's practices are being reviewed at H-P's urging by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Meg Whitman, H-P's CEO, said she expects the process will prompt a 'multiyear journey through the courts' in both the U.S. and the U.K.

在惠普呼吁下，美国证券交易委员会(Securities and Exchange Commission)和联邦调查局(Federal Bureau of Investigation)正在调查Autonomy的做法。惠普CEO惠特曼(Meg Whitman)说，她预计这些调查将导致美国和英国法庭上出现一系列耗时多年的相关诉讼。

On Monday, Mr. Lynch said he hasn't been formally notified of any lawsuits or investigations.

林奇周一说，他尚未接到任何涉及诉讼或调查的正式通知。

Mr. Lynch was raised in England, the son of a firefighter. He went on to study engineering at Cambridge University and obtain a Ph.D. in mathematical computing.

林奇是消防员之子，在英国长大。后来他在剑桥大学(Cambridge University)学习工程学，并取得了数学计算学博士学位。

Autonomy, founded at a startup incubator in Cambridge, developed a computer program to sift through documents, Web pages, presentations, videos, phone conversations and emails. The technology could understand words' meanings and find data accordingly, Mr. Lynch has said. A search within a company's servers for 'profanity,' for instance, would turn up results featuring a variety of swear words, not just the term itself.

Autonomy创办于剑桥的一家创业孵化器，该公司开发了一个筛选文档、网页、演示报告、视频、电话通话和电子邮件的计算机程序。林奇曾说，这一技术可以理解文字的意义并根据文意寻找数据。比如在一家公司的服务器上搜索“脏话，搜出来的结果会包含各种骂人词汇，而不只是“脏话一词。

Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, has used Autonomy's search software on its consumer websites.

《华尔街日报》的出版商道琼斯公司(Dow Jones & Co.)在其消费者网站上用的就是Autonomy的搜索软件。

Mr. Lynch was as effective at selling and marketing as he was at software development, recall former employees, customers and business partners. 'It was a very sales-oriented culture with a very business-savvy CEO,' contrary to the norm in Cambridge, says Simon Galbraith, the founder and CEO of Red Gate Software Ltd., which is based across the street from Autonomy.

据林奇以前的员工、客户和商业伙伴回忆，林奇在销售和营销方面与他在软件开发方面一样效能相当高。与Autonomy一街之隔的软件公司Red Gate Software Ltd.的创始人兼首席执行长加尔布雷斯(Simon Galbraith)说，Autonomy的公司文化强调以销售为导向，而且他们的CEO极具商业头脑，跟剑桥一向的风气有时不同。

Mr. Lynch named Autonomy's conference rooms after references from James Bond movies─one of the big ones was called 'GoldenEye'─and found ways to mention the spy in speeches or presentations. He drove an Aston Martin, a quintessential Bond car.

林奇参照007电影来为公司会议室命名，其中一个大会议室叫做“黄金眼(GoldenEye)。他还常常在演讲或报告中提到这位特工。此外，他开的是阿斯顿·马丁(Aston Martin)车，007的专属座驾。

In another touch worthy of Ian Fleming, Autonomy stocked piranhas for a while in the office fish tank. At times, Autonomy's culture was combative as a Bond movie and at other times demeaning, former employees say.

与创造出了007的作家弗莱明(Ian Fleming)有关的另一点是，Autonomy公司的鱼缸里还曾养了一段时间的食人鱼。以前曾供职这家公司的员工说，该公司文化有时就像电影里的007一样争强好胜，不过有时却也有损人格。

One former marketing employee was sent outside the Cambridge office to collect cigarette butts from the ground, according to two people familiar with the incident. Another former marketing employee recalled being asked to buy Sushovan Hussain, Autonomy's finance chief, underwear during a company trip to Miami, because he had failed to pack a sufficient supply. Turnover on the sales and marketing staffs was high. A spokeswoman for Mr. Hussain acknowledged the incident had happened, but said the CFO was simply late for a meeting and had lost his luggage.

两位知情人士表示，Autonomy以前有位营销部门的员工被勒令到剑桥办公大楼外拣地上的烟头。还有一位前营销部门的员工回忆说，一次公司员工全体去迈阿密，自己被要求为公司的首席财务长侯赛因(Sushovan Hussain)买内衣，原因是侯赛因带的衣物不够。销售和营销部门的人员流失率很高。侯赛因的发言人承认确有此事，但说这只是因为侯赛因开会迟到，丢了行李。

On Monday, Mr. Lynch said many people thrived on Autonomy's aggressive atmosphere, while others did not.

林奇周一说，很多人因公司积极进取的氛围而茁壮成长，也有一些人没能如此。

According to legal filings and former employees, senior members of Autonomy's management sometimes would swoop in at the last minute and complete deals─an arrangement that, in some cases, cut salespeople's commissions and in other cases allowed the senior executives to negotiate other arrangements with clients.

据法律文件显示以及前员工表示，Autonomy的高级管理人员有时会在最后一分钟突然参与进来，然后完成交易。这样的情形有时会减少销售人员的佣金，有时会导致高管与客户另起炉灶再度协商。

A spokeswoman for Mr. Lynch said the deal-making didn't result in cut commissions.

林奇的一名发言人说，做成交易并没有让员工的佣金变少。

At times, Autonomy salespeople appeared to close deals by offering to buy customers' products. In July 2009, Autonomy sold $9 million in software to New York-based data provider VMS Information, according to ex-VMS Chief Executive Peter Wengryn and three former Autonomy employees. At the same time, Autonomy agreed to buy about $13 million worth of licenses for data from VMS, say Mr. Wengryn and the ex-Autonomy employees.

Autonomy的销售人员有时会提出买客户的产品，以此来达成交易。据纽约数据提供商VMS Information前首席执行长翁瑞恩(Peter Wengryn )和三名Autonomy前员工表示，Autonomy曾于2009年7月向VMS以900万美元的价格出售了有关软件。翁瑞恩和那几名Autonomy前员工说，Autonomy当时同意购买VMS大约1,300万美元的数据授权。

While Autonomy booked the revenue from the VMS deal on its top line, the cost of the data it purchased was included in Autonomy's sales, marketing or other expenses─parts of the income statement that often aren't considered a key indicator of a growing tech company's core profitability, say the three people familiar with the matter.

三位知情人士说，虽然Autonomy在账面第一行记载了从VMS获得的收入，但它购买数据的成本则列入了销售、营销或其它支出。这些支出是公司损益表的组成内容，而这一部分一般并不被认为是表明成长型科技公司核心盈利能力的关键指标。

VMS, which sold data on TV viewing habits, had been using Autonomy software since the early 2000s, Mr. Wengryn says, and in the 2009 deal agreed to use some of Autonomy's technology to enhance its business. He says Autonomy's agreement to buy the VMS data helped pave the way for VMS's big purchase from Autonomy.

VMS是一家电视收视习惯数据提供商。翁瑞恩说，自本世纪初以来，该公司一直使用Autonomy的软件，并在2009年的交易中同意使用Autonomy的部分技术来增强自己的业务。他说，Autonomy同意从VMS购买数据，这为VMS大量购买Autonomy的软件铺平了道路。

'The fact that they were interested in licensing our data certainly made that type of deal easier, no doubt about it,' Mr. Wengryn says. 'We were interested in doing a deal, but maybe not of the magnitude that we ended up doing.'

翁瑞恩说，事实上他们对授权使用我们的数据感兴趣，这无疑使我们与Autonomy最后谈成的那类交易变得更易于达成，这一点毫无疑问。我们有兴趣达成一笔交易，但规模可能不像我们最后达成的那样大。

A spokeswoman for Mr. Lynch says Autonomy used the VMS data in pre-sales presentations to demonstrate an Autonomy product that analyzed social-media streams, and that is why the company booked the purchase as a marketing expense. She said that such deals are allowed under the international accounting rules that Autonomy used.

林奇的发言人说，Autonomy在售前演示中使用了VMS的数据，以便展示Autonomy一款分析社交媒体流的产品，正因为如此，该公司将购买数据的费用计入营销支出。她说，根据Autonomy使用的国际会计规定，这样的交易是允许的。

VMS filed for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2011. In a filing, Autonomy said VMS owed it $6.4 million at the time of the bankruptcy, the result of a December 2010 business arrangement.

2011年，VMS申请破产。Autonomy在提交给监管机构的备案文件中说，VMS破产时欠自己640万美元，这是2010年12月一项商业安排的结果。

H-P has also accused Autonomy of bringing forward revenue from deals with resellers.

惠普还指责Autonomy将其与经销商的交易所得提前记为收入。

One transaction now under scrutiny by H-P is a 2010 deal worth around £4 million ($6.4 million) that Autonomy struck with reseller Tikit Group PLC, a British supplier of software to accountants and law firms, according to a person briefed on the deal. That year, Tikit's inventory skyrocketed to £4.1 million from £89,000 the prior year due to 'a strengthening of our relationship with a key software provider,' according to its annual report.

据一位听取了交易情况汇报的人士说，惠普目前正在审查的是2010年Autonomy与经销商Tikit Group PLC之间达成的一笔价值约400万英镑（约合640万美元）的交易。Tikit是一家英国软件提供商，客户主要是会计师事务所和律师事务所。据Tikit的年报说，那一年，由于该公司与一家重要软件提供商的关系得到加强，公司库存从上年的8.9万英镑飙升至410万英镑。

Autonomy recognized the total deal as revenue, the person said. But Tikit paid Autonomy only as it sold the software to clients, the person said.

上述人士说，Autonomy将整个交易额都计入收入。但此人说，Tikit只有在把软件销售给客户后才会向Autonomy付钱。

A spokeswoman for Tikit declined to comment on Monday. Mr. Lynch said that under the accounting standards Autonomy followed, the company properly could recognize revenue on the books when all products were delivered to a reseller, as opposed to an end client.

Tikit发言人周一不予置评。林奇说，根据Autonomy使用的会计准则，当全部产品发给一家经销商后，该公司就可以将所得计入收入，而不必等到产品发给最终客户后再计入收入。

Autonomy used a homegrown computer program, called SMS, to record salespeople's contacts with potential clients and calculate their rates of closing sales. Executives would sometimes use the data to craft broadly distributed emails calling out underperforming salespeople, recalls one former salesperson. Those whose rates fell below a standard deviation executives calculated would be criticized or fired, the former salesperson says.

Autonomy使用自己开发的一个名为“SMS的电脑程序来记录销售人员与潜在客户间的交往情况，并用以计算他们的销售目标完成情况。一位前销售人员回忆说，公司高管们有时会用这些数据来撰写广泛发送的电子邮件，点出那些业绩不佳销售人员的姓名。这位前销售人员说，那些销售目标完成情况低于高管们计算出来的一个标准偏差的销售人员，他们会受到批评或被解雇。

Among some Cambridge graduates, Autonomy became known as a place to get a high-paying job after graduation, endure the pressure for a year, and quit after the Christmas extravaganza, which was held at a five-star hotel in a different European city each year, say former employees.

在一些剑桥毕业生中间，大家都知道Autonomy是毕业后获得高薪工作的地方，在那里承受一年的压力，然后在圣诞狂欢派对后辞职走人。据一些前员工说，Autonomy的圣诞狂欢派对每年都会在一个不同的欧洲城市的五星级酒店举办。

In 2010, a U.S. executive for Autonomy pointed out what he thought were problematic accounting practices to his superiors, say people briefed on the matter. The problems included the way Autonomy booked revenue for products sold to resellers. The executive was eventually fired, they say, and took his complaints to Autonomy's outside auditors, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and regulators in the U.K., these people say.

了解相关情况的人士说，2010年，Autonomy的一名美国高管向他的上司指出了在他看来存在问题的一些会计操作，其中包括Autonomy出售给代理商的产品收入的记账方式。这些知情人士说，这名高管最终被解雇，但他随后把这些问题提交给了Autonomy的外部审计方、SEC以及英国的监管机构。

SEC officials said at the time that they didn't have jurisdiction over Autonomy because it was traded in the U.K., according to people involved in the talks. The executive eventually reached a settlement prohibiting him from publicly discussing Autonomy, say people with knowledge of the matter.

据知情人士说，SEC的官员们当时说，Autonomy是英国的上市公司，因此不在其管辖范围内。知情人士说，这名高管最终达成了和解，和解协议禁止他公开谈论Autonomy。

The spokeswoman for Mr. Lynch said the employee was fired because two people under his supervision engaged in payroll fraud. She said the audit committee of Autonomy's board of directors was made aware of the allegations and conducted an independent review with independent auditors which Autonomy passed. She said that the review came up during H-P's due diligence process.

林奇的发言人说，这名员工被开除是因为他手下的两名员工参与了工资欺诈。她说，Autonomy董事会的审计委员会得知了这些指控，并与独立的审计方进行了独立的评估，Autonomy通过了评估。她说，惠普的尽职调查过程中也提到了这次评估。

The accounting firm Deloitte asked questions about individual deals but never raised serious concerns about Autonomy's practices, say people familiar with the matter. The firm's U.K. unit last week said it 'categorically denies' having any knowledge of any accounting improprieties or any misrepresentations in Autonomy's financial statements. Deloitte declined further comment this week.

知情人士说，德勤会计师事务所(Deloitte)询问了一些与个别交易有关的问题，但是没有对Autonomy的做法表示特别关切。德勤在英国的子公司上周表示，该公司坚决否认知悉Autonomy财务报表中存在任何会计上的不当做法或是不实陈述。德勤本周拒绝进一步置评。

In 2010, its last full year before being acquired by H-P, Autonomy reported record revenue of $870 million─an 18% jump from the year before─and profits of $377 million, a 14% jump from 2009.

在被惠普收购之前的最后一个完整年份2010年，Autonomy录得了创纪录的营收和利润。2010年的营收为8.7亿美元，比上年增长了18%，利润达到3.77亿美元，同比增长了14%。

At the time H-P decided to buy Autonomy, then-Chief Executive Leo Apotheker was pushing to remake the company as a software giant.

在惠普决定收购Autonomy的时候，时任惠普首席执行长的李艾科(Leo Apotheker)正致力于把公司重新塑造成软件巨头。

The company began seeing potential problems with Autonomy's business shortly after the deal closed earlier this year, say people familiar with the matter. The company clawed back some of the commissions paid to salespeople using questionable accounting methods, they said.

知情人士说，今年早些时候，在这笔交易完结后不久，惠普开始看到了Autonomy业务的潜在问题。这些知情人士说，惠普收回了部分支付给利用了可疑会计方法的销售人员的佣金。

Autonomy tried to continue certain accounting practices that the new parent wouldn't allow, say people familiar with the matter. H-P fired Mr. Lynch in May, and soon afterward a member of his inner circle still at H-P told the company's general counsel about possible accounting problems.

知情人士说，Autonomy尝试继续使用新的母公司不允许的一些会计手法。惠普5月开除了林奇，不久，林奇内部圈子中一名仍然在惠普工作的成员向公司法务总监汇报了会计上可能存在的问题。

Last week, Ms. Whitman used a quarterly earnings announcement to lay out H-P's contention that it was deliberately misled about Autonomy's financial results. She said $5 billion of the Autonomy write-down is due to the accounting woes, though she declined to explain how the issues added up to such a large number.

上周，惠特曼试图利用一份季度盈利通知来阐明惠普的论点，即惠普在Autonomy的财务业绩方面被刻意误导。她说，对Autonomy 50亿美元的减记是源于会计上的问题，不过她拒绝解释这一问题为何会令减记数额如此之大。

Mr. Lynch blamed the deterioration of Autonomy's business on mismanagement under H-P. He said that H-P was aware of the different accounting standards Autonomy used at the time of the deal. 'Why has H-P suddenly woken up now and said they just know it now?' he asked. 'What's actually going on here is that the business for various reasons has not thrived under H-P's leadership.'

林奇把Autonomy业务的恶化归咎于惠普领导下公司的管理不善。他说，惠普在交易时就已经意识到Autonomy使用不同的会计准则。他问道，为什么惠普好像现在才恍然大悟一样，说自己现在才知道这一点；事实上，目前的情况是，在惠普的领导下，Autonomy的业务由于各种原因没有实现很好的发展。