Analysis: Backdating costs firms $10.3 billion

The option backdating scandal is adding up, costing the involved companies $10.3 billion total in lost share price and additional compensation expenses, according to an analysis by a proxy advisory firm.

The companies with disclosed option backdating problems have booked an additional $5.2 billion in pretax compensation expenses and their collective market value has dropped $5.1 billion since their disclosures, according to an analysis by proxy advisor Glass, Lewis & Co.

Lynn Turner, managing director of research at Glass Lewis and former chief accountant for the Securities and Exchange Commission, said the list was a scorecard. “If it were a baseball game, we’d be at the 25th inning,” he said. “Something tells me we’ll still be talking about this in December.”

Glass Lewis said a total of 153 companies had disclosed backdating problems since March, when a series of reports in the Wall Street Journal first brought the issue to light.