From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@datamann.com)
Date: Sat Jun 29 2002 - 17:29:22 MDT
Harvey Newstrom wrote:
>
> Speaking of Microsoft, does anybody know anything more about the SEC's
> investigations into Microsoft Accounting irregularities? Apparently,
> they reserved profits in good years off the books to add in later during
> lean years to make themselves always look profitable. This doesn't
> sound (at first glance) as bad as claiming nonexistent profit, but it
> still misrepresents the current state of the company. I haven't heard
> much recently, probably due to bigger accounting scandals elsewhere.
I am not aware that rationing out your profit is any different,
ethically, morally, or legally, than rationing out your losses (which
businesses and individuals do ALL THE TIME, and LEGALLY). I suppose the
only really bad thing about this is that it made Microsoft seem to be a
more stable company than it was, thus lending it a Blue Chip cachet it
didn't deserve (but then again, look at the profits and losses of real
'Blue Chip' companies, like, say, Xerox).
>
> I am beginning to wonder if there ever was an Internet boom at all.
> What if the big Internet boom in corporate profitability was really
> driven by these fictions? What if the real bust was caused by reality
> rearing its ugly head? I hate to be so pessimistic, but it seems like
> we have suddenly discovered that much of the financial history of the
> past decade was fiction. I wonder how much if any of the Internet Boom
> reporting was really accurate.
Well, there is plenty of hardware and software running in many more
people's homes and businesses than before the 'boom', so by that
standard, there was a 'boom'. Whether anybody actually kept any of the
money they made is another question entirely.
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