Posted on 06/28/2002 2:48:44 AM PDT by BlackJack
Edited on 07/19/2004 2:10:06 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Stamford, Connecticut, June 28 (Bloomberg) -- Xerox Corp. shares fell as much as 23 percent in Germany after the Wall Street Journal reported the world's biggest copier maker may have improperly recorded revenue of as much as $6 billion in the past five years. The newspaper cited people familiar with the matter.
(Excerpt) Read more at quote.bloomberg.com ...
Carolyn
Have You Seen the Bible Code on Worldcom?
Hey, don't blame me. I'm just the messenger.
Take this hysterical article for instance. When you check into it, you find:
The revised revenue figures for that period probably won't directly reflect anything like a $6 billion figure, because the main problem with Xerox's accounting was premature booking of revenue. Thus, much of the misbooked revenue in earlier periods will be shown in the restated results to be recouped in subsequent periods.
IOW, money was made all along, but not booked properly. IANAA, but understand that "revenue" can be booked when the agreement is made, or when the check is received, or somewhere in between. Long term contracts can be booked all at once, or a little at a time.
Accounting rules are open to interpretation.
A new audit of Xerox Corp. found that the company improperly accelerated far more revenue during the past five years than the Securities and Exchange Commission estimated in an April settlement with the company, according to people familiar with the matter.
The figure the SEC estimated then was $3 billion for the four years from 1997 through 2000. But the audit, which also looked at 2001, has found fresh accounting problems, these people said. The total amount of improperly recorded revenue over that five-year period, they added, could be more than $6 billion.
Then they should be changed so everyone is playing by the same rules.
Arrrr! Matey! Prepare yee teh set sail with the swarthy crew of the good ship "Clintonomics". Plenty of booty teh loot from the unsuspecting sheeple! Wot deh ya mean, she's sunk to the bottom of the briney for two years nigh? Don't be botherin' me with yer whiney details and facts, ARRRRRR!"
Calling Al Gore!!
Sweaty Al wants to blame corporate greed and corruption on President Bush, that's his recommended line of political attack. Somebody slap that sweathog and remind him that the past 5 years indicts Bill Clinton, not President Bush.
And compares to the $3.8 Billion Worldcom fraud over one and a quarter years.
Having closely seen the Xerox CEO try to weasel her way out of a self-admitted accounting complexity nightmare there, I would say the general corporate anal exam now going on country-wide has not reached the level of exageration yet that you imply has happened. Its not over yet and these and we will see just how misstated is the Xerox settlement. I do not think this is just a made-up story to satisfy al Qaeda.
What I find truly astounding, especially to be noted on this forum, is the very liberal nature of the companies now being destroyed by accounting problems. While one cannot pin all this directly on Clinton (or al Qaeda) many of these companies were politically entangled with Clinton in one way or another.
It is time to dig up the names of all the companies that wnet on trade missions. Also with regard to the telecoms and energies - Global Crossing, Enron, Worldcom, etc. - these giants had much regulatory interaction with the Federal Govt. and were required to play intensive 'games' to succeed.
Xerox has its own govt entaglements (sometime I'll have to explaing the old way currency was tagged to prevent fraud) but also has its own culture established over many years to enable this problem.
And I still stand by my refusal to call for new accounting standards and practices UNLESS congress, and all arms of the Imperial Federal Government (IFG) must also adhere to them.
These companies accounting looks pristine compared to the IFGs.
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