The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against United Parcel Service Inc. for materially misrepresenting its earnings because it failed to follow generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) in valuing one of its worst performing businesses. According to the SEC’s order, UPS determined in 2019 that UPS Freight, a business unit that transported less-than-truckload shipments, was likely to sell…
Public companies that tout overly rosy earnings numbers that don’t comply with US accounting rules, watch out. The Securities and Exchange Commission is blitzing businesses with questions about alternative accounting measures and asking them to justify their use. In some cases they’re telling them to quit showcasing earnings that strip out normal, recurring expenses. Retailers and consumer-facing companies face especially…
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The Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement division is looking closely at violations of rules governing custom accounting metrics, said Michael Maloney, chief accountant of the division. The SEC this year stepped up its campaign to rein in the use of accounting metrics that don’t conform to the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, known as non-GAAP figures. The SEC’s division of…
The Securities and Exchange Commission is taking another step to crack down on corporate use of numbers that the agency fears deceives investors. The SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance is forming an internal task force to closely review the use of “non-GAAP” numbers and whether companies respond to recently updated guidance on using these metrics. via SEC targets companies who…
But there’s a more troubling aspect of the current exuberance for technology stocks: the degree to which so many of the popular companies with premium-priced shares promote financial results and measures that exclude their actual costs of doing business. These companies, in effect, highlight performance that is based more on fantasy than on reality. High Tech, Fantasy Accounting – The…
“We’re looking at non-GAAP measures,” said David Woodcock, chairman of the SEC’s new Financial Reporting and Audit Task Force, referring to companies’ customized measures that don’t comply with generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP. Mr. Woodcock, who was speaking at an American Institute of Certified Public Accountants conference, didn’t mention any specific companies that the task force is looking at.…
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