Ceridian Corp., an information services company that is restating five-plus years of results, announced that the Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a formal order of investigation. The company added that the probe is a nonpublic, fact-finding inquiry and that the SEC has not concluded that the company has violated any securities laws.
The company also announced that executive vice president and chief financial officer John R. Eickhoff will retire after 41 years with the company, effective at the end of the year or upon the company’s filing its amended reports and recent quarterly reports. In addition, vice president and corporate controller Loren D. Gross will retire after 32 years with the company.
The adjustments, which pertain to the results of Ceridian’s Human Resource Solutions business, are primarily line-item-expense reclassifications, along with a minor change in revenue reporting relating to services provided to customers by third-party vendors, the company explained.
The adjustments reduced reported research and development expenses, reduced reported selling expenses, increased reported cost of revenue, and caused a minor reduction in Human Resource Solutions revenue, the company elaborated, noting that the impact on net profit was minimal.
Ceridian also stated that it is reviewing one other issue related to revenue recognition in its U.K. Human Resource Solutions operation that may result in an additional adjustment, though the company does not anticipate that it would be material.
The company further announced that Douglas C. Neve, a senior audit partner with Deloitte & Touche LLP, will serve as executive vice president and chief financial officer following Eickhoff’s retirement. Neve has been leading the Deloitte team assisting Ceridian in its efforts to comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. According to Ceridian chairman, president, and chief executive officer Ronald L. Turner, Neve “already knows first-hand our finance department, our people, our systems, and our internal controls.”