Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Overstock.com Trades More Spars With Former Audit Firm

Salt Lake City-based Overstock.com has ramped up its public spat with former Grant Thornton, its former auditing firm, issuing a rebuttal to a letter send by Grant Thornton to the SEC released yesterday. Thornton, in an unusual move, released a letter sent to the SEC, outlined a number of auditing disagreements with Overstock.com, including pointing on potential "material" changes in its March 31, 2009 and June 30, 2009 results. Late Tuesday evening, Overstock.com released a point-by-point rebuttal from Chairman and CEO Patrick Byrne. In that lengthy rebuttal, Overstock.com calls at least one of Grant Thornton's statements "a falsehood", that statements were "incorrect," and that it was "surprised" by "inconsistencies and inaccurate statements" in the letter. Overstock.com also said the letter was "proof" that the firm's audit committee made the correct decision to dismiss Grant Thornton.