Mike Lynch, the former chief executive of Autonomy, has "flatly rejected" allegations made by the company's new owner HP regarding "serious accounting improprieties".
In a brief statement released, a spokeswoman said the former management of Autonomy denied the allegations.
"The former management team of Autonomy was shocked to see this statement today, and flatly rejects these allegations, which are false," she said.
"HP's due diligence review was intensive, overseen on behalf of HP by KPMG, Barclays and Perella Weinberg. HP's senior management has also been closely involved with running Autonomy for the past year."
HP today said it was taking an $US8.8 billion charge related to its acquisition of software firm Autonomy, citing the accounting improprieties.
The company this morning issued fiscal fourth-quarter financial results that included a $US3.49 billion loss on a 7 percent drop in revenue to $US30 billion.
"HP is extremely disappointed to find that some former members of Autonomy's management team used accounting improprieties, misrepresentations and disclosure failures to inflate the underlying financial metrics of the company, prior to Autonomy's acquisition by HP," HP said in a statement.
"These efforts appear to have been a willful effort to mislead investors and potential buyers, and severely impacted HP management's ability to fairly value Autonomy at the time of the deal. We remain 100 percent committed to Autonomy and its industry-leading technology."
HP has referred the case to the US Securities and Exchange Commission's Enforcement Division and the UK's Serious Fraud Office "for civil and criminal investigation," HP said. Autonomy was based in the UK.
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