Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. announced that its auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, refused to complete a review of the company’s financial statements for the latest quarter until an outside law firm hired by the company’s board is finished performing, ahem — “certain additional procedures” — that the auditors have “requested.”
This is not looking good for the mercurial Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based doughnut chain. Given its high profile since going public in 2000 and the current anti-business climate in the U.S. Justice Department, it would not be surprising to see a criminal inquiry emerge from Krispy Kreme’s current financial problems. I wonder if the grand jurors can bring a box of Krispy Kremes into the grand jury deliberations?
Krispy Kreme’s latest regulatory filings indicate that it had $19.3 million in cash as of Aug. 1, which is less than a third of what it raised in its 2000 initial public offering.
The company’s latest disclosure sparked new questions about Krispy Kreme’s accounting and a series of acquisitions that included the repurchase of several franchises, including two owned that Krispy Kreme insiders owned. The company recently reported a sharp falloff in growth and declining earnings, and already faces an informal SEC inquiry focused on its franchise repurchases and a profit warning it gave in May.