According to a report by Sue Zeidler on Yahoo! News Apple computer Inc. (AAPL) could restate its financial results -- possibly starting from September 2002. There have apparently been irregularities in Stock Option grants at Apple from 1997 to 2001.
According to the news report:
Apple first announced on June 29 that it was conducting an internal probe into irregularities related to stock option grants, hired an independent counsel to conduct its own investigation of the irregularities and notified the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
....Apple will likely need to restate results to record noncash charges for compensation expense relating to past stock option grants. Apple said it had not determined the amount of the charges, resulting tax and accounting impacts, or which periods may require restating.
Apple also said in a SEC regulatory filing...that all financial communications issued since September 29, 2002, should not be relied upon. The irregularities are related to the issuance of stock option grants made between 1997 and 2001.
The official Press Release by Apple about Stock Options irregularities can be found here.
At a time when the going has been good for Apple with successes in iPods and recent improvement in Macintosh sales; this was the last thing Apple's admirers wanted to hear. Apple shipped 1,327,000 Mac PCs and 8,111,000 iPods during the last quarter, representing 12 % growth in sales of Macs and 32 percent growth in iPods over the year-ago quarter.
