Well I do have an accounting background (of sorts) and will be in Barcelona in a couple of weeks. I'll be curious to take a look at what these 'due diligence' papers are.
That'd be great, thx, please keep us updated. If I remember correctly, you have to make an appointment for that though, so you'd better contact the club some weeks in advance...
What's there to see, bar a whole bunch of audit working papers, which you need an accounting background to understand, these tend to be confidential anyway.
During the assemblee Rosell promised a DETAILED report of Laporta's "unneeded" expenses. Apparently that's not the case, so Rosell lied, once again.
Bottom line it that Laporta's accounts weren't audited. Rossell got them audited by KPMG and Delloite (2 of the 4 largest audit firms in the world), with extreme strict guidelines regarding auditor independence. Accounting requires a great deal of judgement, but given the 70 m euro difference, there is something wrong and questions need to be asked. Dunno about the rules that govern member associates like Barca, but in any developed country all public companies are required by law to get their books audited.
It has already extensively been described where that 70M difference comes from:
* Joan Gamper Sant Joan Despí land sale – 21.5 million. Only 1 million has been received so far. This money was not included as income by the auditor.
* Mediapro TV contract – 16 million were included from a deal with Mediapro where the club will get 4 million until 2013 for TV rights. Only 4 million were included by the auditor.
* Mediapro legal dispute – There is also a legal dispute with Mediapro where Barca would get 13 million back from them (in case of winning the dispute). The auditor only took 50% into account.
* Henry’s last year amortization value – 8.2 million – This was not included by the auditor since Henry will not complete his last year in Barca.
* Baena’s indemnisation – there is a legal dispute with Espanyol for this player’s transfer which could give Barca 3.9 millions (if Barca wins the legal dispute) – Not included by the auditor.
* Villa Decans lands – These lands were estimated to have a value of 17 million euros by a appraiser consultant hired by Laporta but the new management got this estimate from an actual certified appraiser who valued the land in 5.7 millions. Auditor included 50% of the difference between both amounts.
* Sogecable’s contract – there is also a legal dispute against Sogecable for TV rights that could give Barca 25 million euros back. – This was not included since Barca lost the first sitting of this dispute.