Three ousted by accountants B&C disciplinary tribunal

Three directors of defunct reseller Atlantic Computers have been barred from practising as chartered accountants due to manipulation of the company's accounts.

Three directors of defunct reseller Atlantic Computers have been barred from practising as chartered accountants due to manipulation of the company's accounts.

An accountants joint disciplinary scheme (JDS) tribunal, held last week, agreed with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) that all three had issued "grossly misleading" accounts for Atlantic Computers when British & Commonwealth (B&C) acquired the company in a £408 million deal. They were responsible for concealing £160 million in liabilities.

The JDS punished Nicholas Kennedy Scott with a ban from the industry for a minimum of eight years, John Tompkins was barred for three years, and Sien Yin Cheng Kai was suspended for two years. Both Kennedy Scott and Tompkins have been banned as company directors by the DTI, but Kennedy Scott has been allowed to hold one directorship with IT project and services company Location Strategy Management. It is unclear if his position, financial director, will be affected by the JDS decision.

The JDS report said Tompkins had "allowed statements which he knew to be misleading to appear in the prospectus for Atlantic's flotation on the Stock Exchange. He bore considerable responsibility both for Atlantic's unsound accounting policies and for allowing Atlantic's accounts to give a misleading picture."

All three men were finance directors at Atlantic Computers.

The misleading information on Atlantic's figures was largely based on incorrect data from the leasing side of the operation, Flexlease. This resulted in the covering up of £160 million in liabilities, depicting the company as a very healthy one. This led B&C to bid for it.

B&C collapsed with debts of £1.5bn.

Kennedy Scott declined to comment.