Katrina Was Not “Extraordinary”

About 80 percent of New Orleans was flooded. Entire zip codes have been deemed uninhabitable. Hundreds were killed. Thousands were relocated. And insurance losses could top $60 billion.However, from a financial reporting standpoint, Hurricane Katrina was not an “extraordinary” event, according to...

By Stephen Taub • Sept. 16, 2005

Scrushy Campaigns for His Old Job

The former chief executive of HealthSouth Corp., whose acquittal of charges related to the health care provider’s $2.7 billion accounting scandal stunned many observers, now wants to play a key role in the company’s recovery. “I have the numbers, clean numbers from the day I walked out of HealthS...

By Stephen Taub • Sept. 16, 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

Interpublic to Restate 2000-2004 Results

The Interpublic Group of Cos. Inc. announced that it will restate its financial results for the years 2000 through 2004 after discovering accounting errors as well as evidence of “possible employee misconduct.”The advertising giant added that the restatement also affects periods prior to 2000, wh...

By Stephen Taub • Sept. 15, 2005

Sun Restates over Tax Accounting

Sun Microsystems Inc. announced that it would restate its 2003 and 2004 financial results after identifying errors related to the accounting for a number of tax-related issues.The struggling computer manufacturer elaborated that the issues include deferred taxes in certain foreign jurisdictions, ...

By Stephen Taub • Sept. 14, 2005

KPMG Settles over Gemstar Audit

KPMG LLP has agreed to pay $25 million to settle a class-action lawsuit stemming from its audit of Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc., according to press reports.Gemstar, which publishes TV Guide magazine, restated its results for the period September 1999 through March 2002 after admitting that...

By Stephen Taub • Sept. 13, 2005

Capital Ideas: The 2005 Working Capital Survey

What’s dumber than a box of hammers? For home-improvement retailer Lowe’s Cos., it’s the same box sitting on “high steel,” the storage shelves that tower over every aisle, out of reach of customers. “If stock is on high steel, in a back room, or in a distribution center, then it’s not in sellable...

By Tim Reason • Sept. 12, 2005

SEC Rebuffs Cisco Option Plan

Cisco Systems Inc. has suffered a setback in its attempt to gain approval for a revolutionary plan to value its stock options.Securities and Exchange Commission chief accountant Donald Nicolaisen said in a statement late Friday afternoon that he has “significant doubts” about the possibility of d...

By Stephen Taub • Sept. 12, 2005

Ex-CFO of Halliburton Cleared of Charge

A federal judge has dismissed one of two civil charges leveled by the Securities and Exchange Commission against Gary Morris, a former chief financial officer of Halliburton Co. Stemming from a time when Vice President Richard Cheney was the company’s chief executive officer, the dropped allegati...

By Stephen Taub • Sept. 9, 2005

Terex Announces New Restatement

After previously reporting that accounting issues were requiring it to restate its results for the four years ended 2003—and later announcing that the Securities and Exchange Commission had opened an investigation into that restatement—Terex Corp. announced Friday that new accounting matters are ...

By Stephen Taub • Sept. 9, 2005

Fractured Fraternity

During the past three decades or so, Patrick Scannell has had countless conversations with accountants. It’s hardly surprising. Scannell, 28 years in corporate finance, has served as CFO at five separate companies, overseen three initial public offerings, and orchestrated one private-market sale....

By John Goff • Sept. 9, 2005

Ebbers to Remain Free on Appeal

Former WorldCom Inc. chief executive officer Bernard Ebbers will remain free while he appeals his conviction, according to press reports.Ebbers, who was found guilty on nine felony counts in connection with the company’s massive accounting fraud, was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He had been s...

By Stephen Taub • Sept. 8, 2005

KPMG Tax Case Expected to Widen

The lead prosecutor in the KPMG tax-shelter case has said he will probably indict another 12 individuals during the next few weeks, according to press reports.On Tuesday, nine individuals were arraigned in a Manhattan federal court, including eight former KPMG partners and an outside lawyer who w...

By Stephen Taub • Sept. 7, 2005

Financials Format Up for Review

At last week’s meeting, FASB announced that this fall it will issue an exposure draft of new guidance on the format for annual financial statements. Guidance on interim statements will be issued separately.FASB introduced the Project on Reporting Financial Performance in August 2001 to address co...

By Craig Schneider • Sept. 6, 2005

Hollinger to Restate Financials

Hollinger International Inc., which is embroiled in a corporate fraud scandal, announced in a regulatory filing that it will restate its financials for the four years ending December 31, 2003, due to errors in tax returns.The tax returns, for 1998 and 1999, contained errors related to gains on sa...

By Stephen Taub • Sept. 6, 2005

Terex Discloses SEC Investigation

Terex Corp. disclosed that the Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an investigation into the diversified manufacturer’s previously announced restatement of its financials for the years 2000 through 2003.In announcing the restatement, Terex noted that the accounting errors stemmed mainly...

By Craig Schneider • Aug. 31, 2005

MCI to Resolve Tax Claims for $315M

MCI Inc. has preliminarily agreed to settle claims made by 14 states and the District of Columbia regarding back taxes, according to Reuters. The states reportedly maintain that the company used a royalty tax plan to shield billions of dollars from their coffers; a spokesman for MCI declined comm...

By Craig Schneider • Aug. 30, 2005

Settlements for Kmart, Rubbermaid Execs

Four former employees of Kmart Corp. and Newell Rubbermaid Inc. have agreed to settle civil charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to the Associated Press.Reportedly, the alleged misconduct — improperly accounting for payments from Rubbermaid to Kmart — inflated the ...

By Craig Schneider • Aug. 30, 2005

Waste Management Ex-CFO to Fight Charges

Waste Management Inc.’s former chief financial officer, James Koenig, will not settle civil charges, brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, alleging that he participated in an accounting fraud at the trash-hauling company.The SEC announced that it will proceed with its case againstKoe...

By Craig Schneider • Aug. 30, 2005

Waste Management Settles for $26.8M

Waste Management has agreed to pay $26.8 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission against four former top executives, reported the Chicago Sun-Times.The Houston-based company — the world’s largest trash hauler, according to Bloomberg — agreed to pay $17.1 mill...

By Craig Schneider • Aug. 29, 2005

Eight Execs Charged in KPMG Probe

Although KPMG LLP was able to avoid a criminal indictment regarding its sale of questionable tax shelters, eight former partners of the Big Four firm were not so fortunate.On Monday, federal prosecutors indicted those individuals, as well as an outside lawyer who worked with KPMG, on charges of c...

By Craig Schneider • Aug. 29, 2005

KPMG to Settle Tax Investigation

KPMG LLP has avoided an indictment over its sale of questionable tax shelters by reaching a deferred-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors, according to press reports.The deal, expected to be announced on Monday, would require the Big Four firm to pay $456 million, admit wrongdoing, and ...

By Craig Schneider • Aug. 29, 2005

FASB Reexamines GAAP Hierarchy

These days, it’s rare to find an accounting standard that’s not awash in some type of controversy. But with its latest initiative, the Financial Accounting Standards Board has finally given Corporate America nothing to gripe about.FASB insists that its proposed standard, The Hierarchy of Generall...

By Craig Schneider • Aug. 29, 2005

Ex-CFO of HealthSouth Gets Three Months

HealthSouth Corp.’s first chief financial officer was sentenced to three months in prison on Thursday for his part in the company’s $2.7 billion accounting fraud, according to reports.Aaron Beam, who co-founded the rehabilitation and medical services chain with ex-chief executive officer Richard ...

By Craig Schneider • Aug. 25, 2005

Tax-Haven Changes Proposed

Federal regulators are proposing new rules aimed at curbing efforts by multinational businesses to shift income to low-tax jurisdictions overseas, according to reports.The proposal focuses on how high-tech, pharmaceutical, and other companies value intangible assets such as research and developme...

By Craig Schneider • Aug. 25, 2005

Former SEC Chairman May Oversee KPMG

Federal prosecutors negotiating a possible settlement with KPMG LLP regarding its sale of allegedly abusive tax shelters are reportedly considering imposing government supervision and new restrictions on the Big Four auditor’s tax practice.To avoid a criminal indictment, KPMG would also have to p...

By Craig Schneider • Aug. 25, 2005