SFO close Autonomy accounts investigation

The Serious Fraud Office had ended its probe into alleged “accounting misrepresentations” by software group Autonomy, which Hewlett-Packard bought for $11.1bn in 2011, only to take an $8.8bn write-down on the acquisition months later. Although the SFO found that “on the information available to it, there is insufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of a conviction”, it noted that US authorities, believed to include the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, are continuing their inquiries.