SEC Broadens Its Investigation Into Revenue-Boosting Tricks

WSJ ^ | 5/16/02 | SUSAN PULLIAM and REBECCA BLUMENSTEIN

[machman]

Securities and Exchange Commission officials, concerned about an explosion of transactions that falsely created the impression of booming business across a range of industries, are conducting a sweeping investigation into a host of practices that pump up revenue.

The inquiry is extending far beyond the disclosures by Dynegy Inc., Reliant Resources Inc. and CMS Energy Corp. that they engaged in illusory "swap" trades that boosted their apparent business. Questions about whether companies' revenues are legitimate are spreading from industry to industry, raising further questions about whether misleading practices contributed to the hyper-growth of the stock market during the late 1990s. In addition to the SEC's inquiry into the telecom companies Global Crossing Ltd. and Qwest Communications International Inc. swapping fiber-optic capacity to increase revenue, people familiar with the matter say the agency's investigation into Lucent Technologies Inc. is now also probing the role vendor financing played in its sales. The agency has won restatements in a look at three Internet firms that booked revenue from wire transfers among themselves that were purportedly payments for services; a lawyer familiar with the transactions says that at least in some instances there were no such services. Those examples come on top of recent acknowledgments by major companies in disparate fields, such as Kmart and Xerox, about revenue they've claimed that has subsequently been questioned by regulators.

[machman]

Ah, how we all long for the Clinton years.

[machman]

The SEC is also scrambling to respond to criticism that it didn't do enough in the past to prevent such finagling. Many of the practices the SEC is now investigating were fully disclosed in filings with the agency.

My point being, Bush will be blamed for the actions of the Clinton SEC.

[Medium Rare]

Ah, how we all long for the Clinton years

I thought most of the 1990's were Clinton years when all of this started and "prospered."

[machman]

Exactly, and how much of it was built on a foundation of fraud, just like billyjeff.

[machman]

Surprised not many freepers were interested. :/

[eraser X]

I'm interested, but don't have a cogent comment except that I blame the big investment banking firms for driving the stock prices and advising the companies to do the things they did--there were a lot of shares to unload on the public.