Bally Restates Four Years of Results

Bally Total Fitness Corp. completed its restatements for the four years through 2003 to reflect “the correction of numerous errors” in its previous financial accounting and reporting.It elaborated that the more than two dozen restatement items included corrections related to the recognition of re...

By Stephen Taub • Dec. 1, 2005

Ahold Settles Class Action for $1.1 Billion

Netherlands-based supermarket giant Royal Ahold NV has agreed to pay $1.1 billion to settle a class-action shareholder lawsuit in a U.S. court stemming from its 2003 accounting scandal.The agreement, pending before the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, covers Ahold, its subsidiari...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 28, 2005

Explore the Trendline➔

Tax policy shifts: What CFOs need to know to stay ahead

Discover how evolving tax policies are creating new opportunities and challenges for CFOs.

By CFO.com staff

Enron Auditor Withdraws Guilty Plea

Former Arthur Andersen auditor David Duncan — the lead auditor for Enron Corp. who previously admitted to ordering colleagues to shred key documents — has withdrawn his guilty plea, according to published reports.Duncan pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of justice for telling Andersen em...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 23, 2005

Visteon Restates Losses for Three Years

Visteon Corp. officially announced its restatement of results for the three years ended in 2004, which were “within the ranges” the company projected a month ago when it initially warned about the revisions. It also finally reported its financials for the first three quarters of this year, thus r...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 23, 2005

Two Companies Restate

Johnson Controls Inc. and Ameritrade Holding Corp. are two of the latest companies to announce plans to restate their financials.Johnson Controls, a Milwaukee-based provider of automotive interiors and building controls products, announced that its revisions will cover 2003 and 2004 and the first...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 22, 2005

Ex-HealthSouth Finance Exec Found Guilty

A former finance executive has become the first former HealthSouth Corp. official to be found guilty by a jury in connection with the company’s $2.7 billion accounting scandal.Hannibal “Sonny” Crumpler — the former controller of the company’s outpatient rehabilitation division and later the finan...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 21, 2005

Options Expenses Now a Factor in S&P 500

Standard & Poor’s has announced that it will include option expenses when it calculates earnings for its U.S. indices, including the widely followed S&P 500. The new Standard & Poor’s policy will result in a 4.2 percent decrease in earnings for the S&P 500 in 2005 — and an 18 perc...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 21, 2005

FASB’s Herz Opposes Pension Smoothing

Financial executives worried about the prospect of losing the ability to report pension values that are averaged out over a number of years have reason to worry. Financial Accounting Standards Board Chairman Robert Herz is no fan of smoothing results in pension accounting, he told CFO.com last Th...

By Helen Shaw • Nov. 21, 2005

Sarbox Study: Tax Execs Get More Respect

Add senior tax executives to the long list of finance-related professionals who have benefited from the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. According to a new survey from KPMG LLP, Sarbox Section 404 compliance work has dramatically lifted the profiles for senior tax executives, particularly with audit c...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 16, 2005

Dana to Restate Results Back to 2000

Officials at auto-parts maker Dana Corp., who said in October that the company would need to restate its financials for 2004 and part of 2005, said Dana will restate its financials from 2000 through 2003 based on an accounting requirement.In October, the embattled company admitted that certain it...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 16, 2005

Comparing Performance When Invested Capital Is Low

Executives and investors have reliable tools for measuring performance in capital-intensive sectors such as manufacturing, retailing, and consumer goods. In general, the math is simple: when managers generate returns on invested capital (ROIC) above their cost of capital, they create value. That ...

By The McKinsey Quarterly • Nov. 15, 2005

Company Reports $70 Million Embezzlement

Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. has announced that about $70 million may have been embezzled from the company by a former officer during a period of more than five years.On November 9, senior management at the onshore drilling contractor received information about unauthorized payments made by the comp...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 14, 2005

SEC Names Taub Acting Chief Accountant

Scott Taub has been named acting chief accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission. His appointment comes a little more than a week after Donald Nicolaisen officially completed his tenure as chief accountant.Taub (no relation to this writer) has served as deputy chief accountant since Se...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 14, 2005

Pensions Go on the Balance Sheet: FASB

Employers would be facing a bumpy road ahead if they’re no longer permitted to smooth results over a number of years when they account for the pensions and retiree health benefits they provide. That possibility became much more immediate last Thursday, when the Financial Accounting Standards Boar...

By Lisa Yoon • Nov. 14, 2005

SEC Probing TDS, U.S. Cellular

Telephone and Data Systems Inc. and United States Cellular Corp. said the Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an investigation in response to restatements the two companies announced last week.The companies said they intend to cooperate fully with the SEC staff’s probe. For its part, ...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 14, 2005

GAO Finds Serious Flaws in IRS Controls

The Internal Revenue Service has had serious shortcomings in its internal controls and financial management systems that caused it to sap its resources in the preparation of its financial statements in the fiscal years of 2004 and 2005, according to a recent report by the U.S. Government Accounta...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 14, 2005

Former Refco CEO Indicted

Former Refco Inc. chief executive Phillip R. Bennett was indicted Thursday on charges that he engaged in a conspiracy that caused the commodities giant to sell $583 million in stock to the public based on “false and fraudulent” statements of its finances, reported the Associated Press.The indictm...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 11, 2005

SEC Looking at Backdated Options Grants

The Securities and Exchange Commission, which has been investigating the uncanny timing of some options grants, is now looking into whether companies improperly backdated the grants to provide recipients a nice windfall, according to The Wall Street Journal.Reportedly, SEC officials are looking a...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 11, 2005

GM Overstated 2001 Earnings

General Motors Corp., which has been losing billions of dollars, suffering a downgrade of its junk bonds, and facing an SEC probe into its accounting practices, has not been faring even as well as all that.The auto giant disclosed late Wednesday that it will restate its 2001 results after discove...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 10, 2005

TDS, U.S. Cellular Will Restate

Telephone and Data Systems Inc. (TDS), one of the largest independent phone companies, and its United States Cellular Corp. business announced that they will restate their financials going back to 2000.TDS will restate its results for the years ended 2000 through 2004 as well as for all four quar...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 10, 2005

Fannie Mae Finds $10.8B in Errors

Fannie Mae has disclosed $10.8 billion in accounting errors stemming from its derivatives and hedging activities.The nation’s largest mortgage lender also named Bob Blakely chief financial officer. He joins Fannie Mae from MCI Inc., where he served as executive vice president and CFO since April ...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 10, 2005

AIG Announces New Restatement

American International Group Inc. is restating again. The embattled insurance giant announced Wednesday that it will revise its financials after discovering an understatement of previously disclosed retained earnings of $500 million.In May, AIG restated earnings downward by $3.9 billion over a fi...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 9, 2005

Trial Begins for Former HealthSouth Exec

Hannibal “Sonny” Crumpler is the latest former executive of HealthSouth Corp. to go on trial for his alleged role in the company’s $2.7 billion accounting fraud.Crumpler is charged with one count of conspiracy and one count of making false statements to auditors, reported the Associated Press. He...

By Stephen Taub • Nov. 8, 2005

Many Happy Returns

This past January, when officials at the Internal Revenue Service announced they wanted many corporations to begin filing their returns electronically for the 2005 tax year, critics howled. After all, few companies appeared ready to go smokeless. In 2004 — when businesses were allowed to voluntar...

By Craig Schneider • Nov. 7, 2005

FASB Chips Away at Revenue Recognition

A recent survey of the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s advisory group, the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council, identified revenue recognition as FASB’s top issue for the fourth consecutive year.The United States has no general-accounting standard on revenue recognition. Practi...

By Craig Schneider • Nov. 7, 2005