More U.S. SEC book-cooking actions hit Fortune 500

http://today.reuters.com/PrinterFriendlyPopup.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=uri:2005-12-07T213238Z_01_N07258883_RTRIDST_0_FINANCIAL-SEC-FORTUNE500.XML

WASHINGTON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission -- once hopelessly outgunned by big business -- each year is bringing more financial reporting actions involving the Fortune 500 corporate elite, officials said on Wednesday.

In fiscal 2005, 24 percent of SEC financial reporting actions hit Fortune 500 companies, their executives or those they do business with, like auditors and vendors, the SEC said.

That proportion was up from 20 percent in 2004, 17 percent in 2003 and just 5 percent in 1998, it said.

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For instance, healthcare services group HealthSouth Corp. <HLSH.PK> -- a Fortune 500 company until two years ago -- in June agreed to pay $100 million to settle an SEC action alleging a massive 1996-2002 accounting fraud.

Media giant Time Warner Inc. <TWX.N> -- No. 32 on the 2005 Fortune list -- agreed in March to pay $300 million to settle SEC charges that, among other things, from 2000 to 2002 it overstated its AOL online advertising revenues.

Telecommunications group Qwest Communications International Inc. <Q.N> -- No. 154 on the 2005 list -- in October 2004 agreed to a $250-million fine to settle SEC allegations of fraudulently recognizing revenues between 1999 and 2002.

...more...

the regulation after Enron, that things would be "cleaned up". Not exactly.

This is weird. Why isn't the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation catching any of this crap?

They are lazy, I got my experience elsewhere and was simply SHOCKED at how they conduct their audits.