Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street: Aug 7

Huron For Dummies

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Huron Consulting Group (HURN Quote) sank almost 70% Monday after it was snagged in an accounting scandal.

An accounting company in an accounting mess? Come on guys, at least give us a challenge. This is Dumbest 101.

Late last Friday, Huron announced it was replacing Chairman and CEO Gary Holdren, as well as CFO Gary Burge, after an audit committee discovered shareholders of four businesses that Huron acquired between 2005 and 2007 improperly divvied up portions of their acquisition-related payments among themselves and choice Huron employees.

In a statement on Monday, the company maintained that the payments were not "kickbacks," because three employees were client-serving and administrative staff of the acquired businesses. Nevertheless, the class action suits have already started rolling in against Huron, whose Web site hilariously says the company helps clients "comply with complex regulations."

The company, which provides accounting and consulting services for Fortune 500 companies and academic institutions, also said Chief Accounting Officer Wayne Lipski will depart the company.

Like we didn't see that one coming.

And in another move straight out of the dumbest textbook, Huron lowered its net profit for the period from 2006 to first quarter 2009 to $63 million from $120 million. In addition, Huron slashed its 2009 revenue outlook to a range of $650 million to $680 million from its prior view of $730 million to $770 million.

For those unfamiliar with Huron, the Chicago-based firm was founded in 2002 by 25 partners from Arthur Andersen. Yep, the same Arthur Andersen that collapsed in connection with the Enron accounting scandal in 2002.

Wow. You could have knocked us over with a feather.

Dumb-o-meter score: 95 -- Unlike Huron's books, this dumbest score is perfectly accounted for and will not be revised.