SEC Says 11 Firms Failed to Certify
Top officers of 11 U.S. companies have failed to meet a government demand to affirm their past financial results, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Friday.
The SEC reported on its Web site that 11 companies’ executives sent in filings that didn’t match the prescribed language to vouch for the accuracy of recent financial statements, including Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc., Alaska Air Group Inc., telephone firm McLeodUSA Inc., Adams Resources & Energy Inc. and hardware wholesaler TruServ Corp., which is a cooperative.
Most of the companies listed as not complying had announced earlier that they wouldn’t vouch for the accuracy of their financial statements. They included the high-profile names from America’s season of corporate scandals: Enron Corp., WorldCom Inc., Dynegy Inc. and Adelphia Communications Corp. All are under investigation by the SEC for accounting irregularities.
The accounting scandals prompted the unprecedented SEC order that the chief executives and chief financial officers of about 950 large companies certify their latest financial statements or explain why they couldn’t.
The vast majority of companies facing a Wednesday deadline to certify met the deadline with the prescribed statements, the SEC’s Web site shows.
Alaska Air, which was listed as not complying, said its filing explained that it expects to change certain accounting policies, resulting in a restatement of previous financial statements.
Adams Resources & Energy, whose CEO, K.S. “Bud” Adams Jr., owns the National Football League’s Tennessee Titans, also was singled out by the SEC.
The company said it received an SEC inquiry on its 2001 annual and 2002 first-quarter reports days before its Wednesday deadline to certify. The firm said it decided not to fully certify past statements until it had resolved the SEC inquiry.
