Eddie Antar (Crazy Eddie) dominated the retail consumer electronics market in the New York City metropolitan area. By 1987,Antar's firm, Crazy Eddie , Inc., had 43 retail outlets, sales exceeding $350 million, and outstanding stock with a collective market value of $600 million. During his term as the company's chief executive. Antar had personal gain of more than $70 million.
The first step Crazy Eddie done in order to gain success was to expand his little store into many big consumer electronics supermarket and stocking the stores shelves with every electronic gadget available on the market.
As the firm grew rapidly in the 1970 and 1980, antar's ability to buy large quantities in lower discounted prices allowed him to become an …show more content…
As a replacement, Antar hired Main Hurdman to serve as Crazy Eddie's audit firm. Main Hurdman had a nationwide accounting practice with several prominent clients in the consumer electronics industry. In the mid-1980s
Following the corporate takeover of Crazy Eddie in 1987,the new owners replaced Peat Marwick with Touche Ross.
CASE 1.8 . CRAZY EDDIE, INc.
Main Hurdman charged Crazy Eddie comparatively modest fees for the company's annual audits.A leading critic of major accounting firms a lleged that Main Hurdman had "Iowballed" to obtain Crazy Eddie as an audit client, realizing that it could make up for any lost audit revenue by selling the company consulting services.-------- he audit them for a lower price in order to gain them as a client, and get revenue from them from another side through consulting services
This same individual challenged Main Hurdman's ability to objectively audit an inventory system that it had effectively developed.
Main Hurdman's independence was also questioned because many of Crazy Eddie's accountants were former members of that accounting