Peregrine Systems Inc., a San Diego firm that provides fleet maintenance software for trucking companies, among other business software lines, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy,
blaming its former auditor, Arthur Anderson LLP for its financial woes.
The company said it plans to bring a $250 million lawsuit against Anderson and audit partner Daniel Stulac in San Diego Superior Court.
Peregrine listed assets of $1.7 billion and more than $607 million in liabilities in its filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.
In May, two top executives of the company resigned during an investigation of potentially inaccurate accounting. The Associated Press said an internal investigation found the company had inflated its revenue by as much as $250 million from April 1999 to the end of 2001. Peregrine's stock was removed last month from the NASDAQ Stock Exchange.
While the bulk of Peregrine's business is in other areas, the company provides maintenance software -- including FleetAnywhere -- over the Internet to trucking fleets.
Gary Greenfield, chief executive officer of Peregrine, told the Associated Press his firm expects to emerge from Chapter 11 as a stable company.