A massive 15-million pound fine has been levied on Deloitte for its audit of software firm Autonomy prior to Autonomy’s acquisition by HP in 2011.

A UK court found that the audit contained “serious and serial failures” before levying the record fine.

This follows an investigation into Deloitte and two former partners, Richard Knights and Nigel Mercer, who audited Autonomy’s financial statements for 2009 and 2010.

HP paid $11-billion for Autonomy in 2011, but just one year later wrote off three-quarters of the company’s value. At the time, HP alleged that it had been deceived about Autonomy’s finances.