Huron, which also operates in the litigation support/e-discovery consultancy area, was formed in 2002 by 25 partners of the old Arthur Andersen business, said on Friday that its entire top management team would leave the company and that it would restate more than three years of results. The company's earnings for that period would be slashed almost in half because it had misreported costs related to acquisitions. Huron stock closed down 69.13 percent at $13.69 on Nasdaq.

Huron's audit committee discovered shareholders of four businesses that Huron acquired between 2005 and 2007 redistributed portions of their acquisition-related payments among themselves and to certain Huron employees who were not identified. Huron has already replaced chairman & chief executive Gary Holdren, as well as CFOr Gary Burge. The company also said chief accounting officer Wayne Lipski will be leaving the company.

The restatements raise costs for 2006-2008 and for the first quarter of this year. As a result aggregate net profit for that period dropped to just $63 million from $120 million. Huron also cut its 2009 revenue outlook to a range of $650 million to $680 million from its prior view of $730 million to $770 million. Two law firms are investigating potential shareholder claims against Huron over possible securities violations, while analysts are already raising questions about the company's ability to survive. Comments made include "we believe there are legitimate worries about Huron being a going concern" and "the damage to Huron's reputation will likely be significant."