Accountants' Liability

Our attorneys have nationally recognized expertise in defending professional liability actions against accountants and accounting firms.  Although most of the actions litigated by the firm are venued in California, our attorneys have been involved in defending accountants and accounting firms from Alabama to Alaska and Hawaii to Texas, appearing in both State and Federal Courts.

The firm regularly defends both accounting firms and individual accountants in the following types of actions:

• Professional malpractice actions
• Unfair competition actions
• Administrative proceedings before the Securities and Exchange Commission
• Administrative proceedings before the California Board of Accountancy
• Securities fraud class actions

Our attorneys have expertise in defending actions arising from audit services, tax services and management consulting services.

The expertise of our attorneys in the area of accountants’ liability has been recognized by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, who has called upon our firm to serve as counsel in several cases before the California Supreme Court:

• Bily v. Arthur Young & Co., 3 Cal.4th 370 (1992) (An auditor owes no duty of care to persons other than the auditor’s client)
• Grafton Partners L.P., et al. v. The Superior Court of Alameda County (PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP), 36 Cal.4th 944 (2005) (No waiver of the right to a jury trial by contract)

Other cases in which our firm has represented accountants or accounting firms include:

• Aizuss v. Commonwealth Equity Trust, 847 F. Supp. 1482 (E.D. Cal. 1993) (Securities fraud class action dismissed at pleading stage)
• Eckert Cold Storage Inc. v. Behl, 943 F.Supp. 1230 (E.D. Cal. 1996) (Limitation on accountants liability for negligent tax advice)
• McBride v. California Board of Accountancy, 130 Cal.App.4th 518 (2005) (Award of prehearing costs to Board of Accountancy does not violate due process)

If you have inquiries regarding Wilke Fleury’s accountants’ liability services, please contact Matthew Powell at (916) 441-2430.