New allegations about Halliburton. The oil-field-services giant has been accused of deliberately distorting its accounts through false accounting. Potentially, that could land the company in serious trouble.
Halliburton's former director of technical accounting research and training, Anthony Menendez, has accused the world's second-largest oilfield-services company of using so- called bill-and-hold accounting and other undisclosed practices to "distort the timing of billions of dollars in revenue,'' reports Bloomberg.
What it basically boils down to is the claim that the company was front-loading its revenues, putting them into its books when the goods were still lying unassembled in the warehouse.
As Bloomberg's Jonathan Weil points out, this is in violation of generally accepted accounting principles. For them to recognise the revenues, the risks of ownership have to passed on to the buyer. That didn't happen in this case.
It's worth noting that Menendez is in dispute with the company. He says Halliburton retaliated against him in violation of the Sarbanes- Oxley Act's whistleblower provisions after he took his concerns to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the company's audit committee. Halliburton says it's not true.
This case could get worse for Halliburton. Apart from the September court hearing, a congressional committee has requested more information on the case, reports the Houston Chronicle.
But then, given what's happened with Lewis "scooter" Libby, there's no doubt Halliburton will be looked after. The President always looks after his pals.
Watch this space.
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