Your accounting firm help prepare a 10k filing under the 1934 Securities and Exchange Act, for a real estate investment corporation. The filing contained valuation of large tracts of vacant land owned by company in Colorado. When stating the value of this land in the 10K you relied on the valuation by an appraiser hired by the real estate corporation. The facts will show that when that real estate appraiser first valued this land, she valued it at $500 per acre. When that was presented to CEO of the corporation he said that was not high enough because they had paid $2000 per acre for it prior to the 2008 crash and it needed to be valued at least at $2500 hundred per acre. When the appraiser refused they change her mind, the CEO hired another appraiser and made it clear that the land must be valued at $2500 per acre. This appraiser was promised a lot of money for appraising it at that value. You, as the auditor did not know anything about that, but could have discovered the truth.
Investors in this company have now sued you because once this fraud was disclosed the value of their shared dropped substantially, and they want the money they lost from your accounting firm. Will you win or lose? Explain fully with the correct rule and a complete explanation.