Dell is planning to restate more than $92 million that it reported in net income during a nearly four-year period and plans on filing several late quarterly and annual financial reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the PC vendor announced Oct. 30.
The announcement by Dell comes nearly two months after an internal company audit found that its executives had sometimes changed the company's quarterly financial numbers in order to meet Wall Street expectations.
The audit, which was released in August, covered the company's financial results between 2003 and 2006 and the first quarter of 2007.
Michael Dell stepped down in 2004 from running his namesake company, and Kevin Rollins became the CEO. In January of 2007, Rollins left and Michael Dell returned to day-to-day control of the company.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Dell, in Round Rock, Texas, said the readjustment of earnings represented a small fraction of the company's earnings during that time period.
Despite its former commitment to direct sales, Dell is now selling its PCs at Staples. Click here to read more.
"The cumulative change to net income for the restatement period was a reduction of $92 million, compared to previously reported net income of more than $12 billion for the period," spokesperson David Frink wrote in an e-mail.
"This represents less than 1 percent of the total net income during this period," Frink said. "The cumulative change to earnings per share … for the restatement period was 3 cents ($0.03) compared to the previously reported cumulative $4.78. The cumulative change to revenue for the period was a reduction of $359 million from the previously reported $196.2 billion."
By filing the annual and quarterly reports with the SEC, Dell should also become in compliance with the rules of the Nasdaq and retain its listing on the stock exchange.
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