Ex-iSoft financial controller banned

Ian Storey, iSoft’s former financial controller, has been banned from his professional body for a minimum of eight years.

He has also been told to pay costs of £20,000 to the Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board, which filed a complaint against him after an investigation into his conduct at iSoft Group Plc.

Yesterday, the board published the outcome of a disciplinary hearing against Storey that was held in February.

His exclusion from membership of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales means he can no longer call himself a chartered accountant.

The full report of the disciplinary tribunal has not been published, because of ongoing legal proceedings “against other parties arising from the same circumstances.”

However, the AADB said Storey accepted that he had provided false and misleading information to the group’s auditors “on a number of occasions” between November 2003 and November 2005.

The AADB launched its investigation in October 2006, after iSoft announced that it had uncovered accounting irregularities.

In January, the Financial Services Authority started criminal proceedings against four former iSoft directors; Patrick Cryne, the company’s former chairman, Timothy Whiston, its former chief executive, Stephen Graham and John Whelan.

They are all accused of conspiracy to make misleading statements contrary to section 397 (1)(a) and (2) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and section 1 of the Criminal Law Act 1977.

The charges relate to changes in revenue recognition policy at iSoft and a series of profit warnings that, combined with failure to achieve promised delivery targets, saw iSoft’s share price drop by 90% in 2005-6.

The company directors made lucrative disposals of shares in 2004. The company was sold off to Australia’s IBA Healthcare for £166m in October 2007. The case has reached its preliminary stages at the Crown Court.