Oregon Steel Mills (OSM) retained Coopers & Lybrand, LLP for many years to provide accounting and auditing services. Due to its negligence, Coopers wrongly advised OSM that a transaction should be reported as a $12.3 million gain on OSM’s financial statements and reports. When Coopers audited its financial statements for that year, it gave its opinion that OSM’s consolidated financial statements fairly represented its financial position in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. 

Shortly before OSM was planning to make a public offering of its stock and debt, Coopers advised OSM that the earlier transaction might have been reported incorrectly. Because of the time required to restate the financial statements and change other documents related to the planned offering, OSM’s public offering was delayed by several months. Is Coopers liable for the difference between what OSM actually received and what it could have received if the stock offering had not been delayed by Coopers’s negligence? Explain.