Found at The Shark Tank (Computerworld)
http://www.computerworld.com/departments/opinions/sharktank/0,4885,86722,00.html
As part of its new disaster recovery plan, this Australian company takes out a lease on a secondary site about an hour outside of town from its headquarters, says an IT consultant hired to advise the company.
"The place was perfect," the consultant says. "It was an old warehouse that had been converted into offices and a call center. It had everything, and the owner was happy to sign a long lease, as the property had sat vacant since the dot-com collapse."
Six months later, the company is ready for a trial run of its disaster plan and invites the consultant back to watch the drill.
"Everyone turns up at work and is told that due to 'biowarfare,' the office is unusable for the foreseeable future," he says. "Everyone grabs what they can, then climbs onto a bus and heads off to the country."
An hour and a half later, the bus pulls up at a lovely piece of land, vacant except for some construction machinery.
"Where's our secondary site?" the company CIO chokes out.
"The site was sold two months ago," workers tell him. "We're just finishing the leveling."
"What about the furniture and equipment inside the old building?" asks the CIO.
"It was all just bulldozed into the landfill at the back of the lot," the crew's foreman says.
After another long bus ride and several days of witch-hunting, the truth comes out.
"A junior accountant had been given the job of looking for wasted expenditure and had come across the lease on the secondary site," says the consultant.
Since the company had no business out that way and the site did not produce any income, he had deduced that it was a wasted expenditure and had the lease cancelled.
The owner of the site had then, in disgust, sold the property.
That accountant is still looking for gainful employment.