As a result of the improper sales-cutoff practices, “IGI misstated its assets, revenues, and net income” for several years. On August 6, 2015, Miller Energy Resources Inc. was charged with inflating values of oil and gas properties, resulting in misstated financial statements. On June 5, 2015, Computer Sciences Corporation agreed to pay $190 million to settle charges that the company engaged in a wide-range accounting-and-disclosure applicant fraud protection that materially overstated its earnings and concealed from investors significant problems with its largest contract. On April 27, 2015, the SEC obtained a $131 million judgment against Symbol Technologies Inc. for fraudulent revenue-recognition practices, including quarter-end “stuffing” of Symbol’s distribution channel to help meet revenue and earnings targets imposed by its CEO. The company lowered its year-end provision for income taxes by making numerous post-closing adjustments to fill gaps and meet its previously disclosed effective tax rate. Defendants improperly moved certain expenses that had been recorded in Penn West’s operating expense accounts to its capital expenditure accounts, a reclassification practice known internally at Penn West as “reclass to capital.” This had the effect of moving the expenses from the company’s income statement, where they appeared as expenses, to the company’s balance sheet, where they appeared as assets, thus lowering the company’s reported operating expenses and making it appear that Penn West was investing capital in support of increased production.
While this doesn’t stop people using existing accounts, it can stop them using your information to open up new accounts. Maintaining security in finances and tracking money carefully can limit damage and help stop these attacks from happening. In addition, when using EasyPay123, credit card numbers are stored only on the EasyPay123 system as opposed to being in the merchants database where security measures may be more difficult to implement. Child identity theft: -Someone gets a hold of your child’s social security number. Perhaps there will be disagreements with clients or disagreements about a specific number in the financial statements. Lesson number two – never buy anything to prepare for a professional reading. In addition, the SEC filed charges against two former Bristol-Myers officers for the fraudulent earnings management scheme. The object of the scheme was to deceive investors about a key publicly reported metric concerning the cost of oil extraction and processing needed to sell a barrel of oil. Penn West, a Canadian-based oil and gas company has agreed to pay $8.5 million in civil penalties for fraudulently moving hundreds of millions of dollars in expenses from operating expense accounts to capital expenditure accounts. With a lack of direct supervision and inadequate approval and review processes, employees that have access to accounts receivable records and customer remittances are positioned to perpetuate fraud.
The SEC charged L3 for failing to maintain accurate books and records and failing to maintain adequate internal controls when the company improperly recorded $17.9M in revenue from a contract by creating invoices associated with unresolved claims that were not delivered when the revenue was recorded. For example, an employee might generate a fake invoice, then ‘pay’ the invoice for services or products that were never delivered. Hire an Outsourcing Firm – Hiring a bookkeeping outsourcing services firm takes away the stress of supervising the in-house accountants. Forensic accountants working at some agencies are more likely to testify in court. It can also lead to a loss of funds and may take a long time to sort out if there are legal implications. See more about deceptive non-GAAP financials in our article in Accounting Today: Deceptive non-GAAP financials will lead to future SEC whistleblower awards. Recently, the SEC issued new guidance on the its interpretation of the rules and regulations on the use of non-GAAP financial measures. In a previous enforcement action, the SEC fined a company more than $1 million for misleading non-GAAP financial measures. Tangoe paid $1.5 million to settle charges that it reported revenue prematurely for work that had not been performed and for transactions that did not produce any revenue at all.
Someone could be spying on your every movement, recording your credit card transactions or going through all the files on your computer. They have been in the business in over a decade now and with the amount of experience that they carry, they are definitely going to deal with your issue with ease and contentment. See our column in Going Concern: Sarbanes-Oxley 15 Years Later: Accountants Need to Speak Up Now More Than Ever. Transcript: As a former external auditor, I’m well-aware of the pressures that are involved with auditors and accountants. The SOX whistleblower lawyers at Zuckerman Law represent accountants in whistleblower retaliation claims, including claims brought under the whistleblower protection provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Dodd-Frank Act. On December 20, 2016, the SEC settled an internal-whistleblower retaliation claim with an Oklahoma energy company, SandRidge Energy Inc., for $1.4 million. In addition, the CFO double-counted $110 million of fixed assets already included in the reserve report. For additional information, see our article on how to report channel stuffing and earn an SEC whistleblower award.
