"Had they done so, they’d have found only confirmation that CUC was a healthy, hungry start-up well-liked by Wall Street. While CUC wouldn’t let Sierra see its

"Had they done so, they’d have found only confirmation that CUC was a healthy, hungry start-up well-liked by Wall Street. While CUC wouldn’t let Sierra see its internal financial data, it did have assurances from the Big Four accounting firm Ernst & Young that the books were not just in order but reflected a company so fabulously wealthy that it could pay for Sierra not with cash, but pieces of itself." 2 weeks ago on WSJ & HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24802741 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24802741 "Firms That Imploded Have Something in Common: Ernst and Young Audited Them"