Execs get rich on false profits 207 firms erased $7.3 billion in net income, but bosses had reaped stock options, bonuses.

By Andrew Countryman
Special to The Morning Call

Quarter after quarter, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. went to great lengths to make its numbers, and the stock soared.

Then reality hit. Early last year, the drugmaker restated results for 1999 through June 2002, saying it gave wholesalers special deals to keep sales growing briskly enough to please Wall Street. Management, it said, had set ''unrealistic expectations,'' and ''errors and inappropriate accounting'' followed.

But at the same time the firm was reporting more than $700 million more in profits than it should have, company insiders sold nearly $68 million in stock. Former Chief Executive Officer Charles Heimbold alone cashed in more than $23.6 million.

Turns out Heimbold and Bristol-Myers had plenty of company across corporate America. A Tribune analysis of 207 major companies that revised previously disclosed results last year reveals the firms erased $10.6 billion in revenue. Those that cut net income lowered profits by $7.3 billion.

During periods later revised, stock-selling was rampant: Insiders sold more than $5 billion worth of company stock. They also collected millions in bonuses, typically based on profits that were later reduced.

Among the 25 companies with the biggest revisions, insiders sold $4.4 billion in stock — far more than at similar firms that didn't restate results — at a time when their firms were overstating profits by $6.7 billion.

''You've got executives who have crossed over the line,'' said former Securities and Exchange Commission Chief Accountant Lynn Turner, now managing director of research at proxy voting advisory firm Glass, Lewis & Co.

''Usually, these guys or these ladies in their own mind are able to rationalize why it's OK or why they won't go to jail for what they're doing,'' he said.

Corporate governance experts say executives have huge incentives to prop up their stock and boost earnings so they can cash in at the highest possible price. The boom in stock-related compensation has made the temptation all the greater, experts say.

''The shareholders hold on, the executives cash out, and then the news hits and the shareholders are the ones left holding the bag,'' said Scott Klinger, co-director of the Responsible Wealth project, a group of businesspeople and affluent Americans fighting economic inequality.

Bristol-Myers' stock slides

When Bristol-Myers filed its restatement on March 19, 2003, shares closed at $22.61. That was well below their all-time high close of $74.18 on Oct. 28, 1999, a day Heimbold sold stock worth nearly $2.3 million.

In addition, Heimbold took home more than $6.4 million in bonuses based in part on meeting sales and earnings targets. Current CEO Peter Dolan sold $2 million in stock for up to $72.84 a share and had more than $2.3 million in bonuses.

Spokeswoman Rebecca Taylor said the firm ''has appropriate policies and procedures in place to ensure compliance with insider-trading rules.''

Heimbold's representatives have said he was not involved in any improprieties and was not aware of any erroneous accounting. Dolan was not available for comment.

In August, the firm agreed to pay $150 million to settle SEC fraud allegations connected to the restatement. It is the second-largest such penalty in the United States, behind WorldCom Inc.'s $750 million. Bristol-Myers neither admitted nor denied guilt. The SEC said its investigation was continuing, focusing on individuals.

In other cases in the Tribune study, many executives cashed out large chunks of stock when the price was near its high, and shares frequently had sunk by the time the restatement hit.

Current and former corporate officials are reluctant to discuss circumstances of restatements or stock sales. Several of the largest individual stock sellers declined to comment on their sales, and others did not respond to requests for comment.

Only a handful of stock sales during periods covered by restatements have resulted in insider-trading charges. But the Tribune study raises questions about what officials at the firms knew when they sold shares.

Potential conflicts found

As in the Enron Corp. case, the Tribune study also found that the companies that revised earnings often had potential conflicts of interest with their independent auditors.

Nearly four in 10 of the companies had at least one former employee of the auditor as a high-ranking executive or director. Audit fees made up less than 40 percent of all fees paid to independent accountants.

Many of these elements came together in the case of i2 Technologies Inc. In July 2003, the Dallas-based software and services firm restated results from 1998 through September 2002.

The restatement wiped out almost $360 million in revenue and more than $207 million in net income. During that period, company insiders sold $1.05 billion in stock.

In June, the company agreed to pay $10 million to settle SEC charges that it improperly recognized millions in revenue. The firm neither admitted nor denied the allegations.

Robert Evans, who was i2's chief operating officer during part of the period that was restated, had worked in the 1990s at Andersen Consulting, then the consulting arm of i2's auditor, the Andersen accounting firm of Chicago.

Company spokeswoman Melanie Ofenloch said Evans' former employment did not affect the quality of its audit, and the company said consulting and other fees it paid to Andersen did not compromise its independence. Ofenloch said i2 is far more conservative now in how much it spends on non-audit services.

It also has made significant changes to clean up its financial reporting, she said.

''We're very conservative in the way we approach things now,'' she said. ''It's something that we do not want to repeat.''

Of stock sold by insiders while the company was overstating its results, Chief Executive Sanjiv Sidhu had nearly half, at $502 million.

Ofenloch noted company co-founder Sidhu is the firm's largest shareholder and said many sales were by a prearranged plan.

Citing ongoing litigation, Ofenloch said Sidhu would not comment. Nor is the company trying to recoup top executives' bonuses or profits from stock sales collected during the restatement period, she said.

CEO bonuses an issue

Those sorts of sales, said Responsible Wealth's Klinger, are ''absolutely'' a problem because executives pocket money based on what's frequently an inflated stock price. Bonuses typically are based on earnings and other financial measures that companies later admitted were wrong.

''You never go back and see restatements of CEO pay … and that's a big problem,'' Klinger said. ''They almost should be put in escrow or something. There's no look-back.''

Indeed, SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt wrote in a recent Compliance Week column that a CEO's bonuses and a portion of salaries should be held back until ''the successful completion of the CEO's tour of duty.''

''If the company is later compelled to restate its earnings materially, or if the company is accused of fraudulent or other serious illegal conduct, the escrowed earnings would be withheld,'' Pitt wrote.

Some research suggests that restatements are not random events, but are more likely at companies under extreme pressure to continue earnings growth and at firms where executives have rich incentives to keep stock prices high.

Experts stress that not all restatements are the result of fraud, but all are mistakes.

''A restated financial statement, by definition, is an error,'' said Turner, the former SEC chief accountant.

Some restatements are due to unintentional mistakes, he said, but ''way too many are coming about because of the incompetence of the CFO and his or her controller.''

Others say many result from pushing the envelope to meet earnings targets.

Before a company crosses the line into outright errors, ''it's going to have used up a lot of the flexibility'' under accounting rules, said Texas A&M accounting professor Edward Swanson. ''It's like a culture at this point that's in place where they've been doing everything they can to keep the stock price up.''

Swanson's research shows that higher levels of CEO stock compensation are strongly associated with the likelihood of a restatement.

''It's almost as if they have too much money on the table,'' he said.

Enforcement stepped up

Several executives who presided over the firms that restated results have been replaced, and they frequently are defendants in civil litigation. Some are under SEC investigation. A few face criminal charges.

A study of 2003 restatements by Chicago-based Huron Consulting Group found they increased 50 percent from 1999. Nearly all of those in the Tribune study included periods in 2002 or later.

Turner said many of the accounting industry's old-guard, stickler-for-detail audit partners have retired in recent years and often were replaced by people who were rewarded for selling non-audit services.

The focus has begun to shift toward partners with greater technical expertise, but he said it will take time to resolve.

''I think it's going to take us another five years to dig out of this hole,'' Turner said.

Andrew Countryman is a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, a Tribune Publishing newspaper.
Copyright © 2004, The Morning Call

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WHAT ARE THE RESULTS?

CANCER DISAPPEARS OVERNIGHT AFTER WOMAN APPLIES PRAYER CLOTH

Alyce gasped in horror as she looked in the mirror. Where she ex­pected to see a simple sore in her mouth, she saw a white-crusted lesion, surrounded by black scabs.

For days she had been feeling pain in the roof of her mouth, but attributed it to a mouth sore and just avoided put­ting pressure in that area. As the pain worsened, she started chewing only on the other side of the mouth. But when Alyce saw what it looked like, she re­alized this was no common mouth sore.

With a sickening feeling, Alyce called her family physician. He examined the lesion, believed it to be cancerous and referred her to a surgeon.

After doing a biopsy and reviewing the pathology results, the surgeon reported to Alyce, "The tumor in your mouth is cancerous, and we'll have to remove it,” This meant removing half of the roof of her mouth. Alyce would need reconstructive surgery, and would have a speech impediment the rest of her life. Yet she knew she had no choice, so she consented, and the doctor scheduled surgery for two weeks later.

At home, Alyce decided to tune into a program called Success-N-Life that she had watched off and on in the past. The powerful testimonies of healing "built up my faith,” she says. “I said to myself,

'If God can do that for those people, He can do it for me'" (Acts 10:34).

Alyce called the 24-Hour Miracle Prayer Center and prayed in agreement for her healing (Mt. 18:19). When she received an anointed prayer cloth from Robert Tilton Ministries, she touched the lesion in her mouth with it, pray­ing and releasing her faith for a miracle from God.

The next day, Alyce woke up and realized that her mouth was not sore. When her tongue couldn't find the lesion, she jumped out of bed and ran to the mirror. There she discovered that the roof of her mouth was a beautiful shade of pink...the lesion had disap­peared.

Alyce went back to the surgeon a week later. Amazed to find no tumor, the doctor sent Alyce to another can­cer specialist for verification. After he examined Alyce, he commented, "I don't know why she [the doctor] is sending you to me. Your mouth is healed." All tests came back with the same verdict: no cancer.

With surgery cancelled. Alyce rejoices, "I believe in miracles. I know they happen because I had one, and I tell everybody that will listen.”

GOD HEALS MAN'S HEART AND TRIPLES HIS INCOME

Only in his mid-thirties. Bill pleaded with God to let him die. During the past five years, his doctors had hospitalized him 45 times because of his severe heart problems.

But poor health wasn't his only con­cern; he had a wife and son to support, yet his severe physical problems made it hard to continue working.

A trip to Word of Faith Family Church brought a glimmer of hope to this problem-plagued family. "I had always just accepted everything and endured my circumstances,” Bill admits.

"But after learning about walking in faith. I decided to take a stand and believe God wanted to heal me and set my fam­ily free from the spirit of lack" (III Jn. 2).

And God did. Bill received his com­plete healing at a Word of Faith service when Robert Tilton laid hands on him and prayed.

Bill and his wife. Pat made a vow of thanksgiving to God and paid regularly on it as God provided. One day when Bill was seeking the Lord about starting his own delivery business, the phone rang. It was a prayer minister from Robert Tilton Ministries. This divine coin­cidence gave Bill the confidence he needed to get started.

After one year his delivery business tripled in earnings. "Vowing is a tool to prove God's Word;' Bill declares.

PRAYER ENDS 10-YEAR ORDEAL WITH DEAFNESS

When Jimmy lost 95 percent of his hearing in the right ear, he was not sur­prised. He had expected it. Years of working around loud machinery in his father's logging business contributed to his deafness.

"My condition both­ered me but I had learned to live with it,” he says.

Coming across Success-N-Life, Jimmy learned that God wanted to heal him (Ex. 15:26). To exercise his faith, he made and began paying a $1,000 vow for his healing. One day, Robert Tilton gave a word of knowledge that God was heal­ing deaf ears. Obediently, Jimmy placed one hand on the television screen and one on his ear, and prayed with Robert Tilton. Instantly, God restored his hearing.

He rejoices that his 10-year ordeal with deafness is finally over.

INCOME INCREASES AFTER WIFE LOSES JOB

After Theda lost her job her hus­band's salary wasn't enough to sup­port them, so they started looking for other career options. Intrigued when a friend told them about her paper shred­ding business, Ricky started investi­gating this occupation and became very excited. The only hitch was their terri­ble credit rating.

About this time, Theda called Robert Tilton Ministries and made a $2,500 vow for finances. When a friend called the next day offering to finance their business with $150,000, Ricky and Theda knew that God was about to pour out His abundant blessings.

Secured Data Destruction opened for business and is flourishing beyond all expectations (Eph. 3:20). They expect a phenomenal $250,000 profit by the end of the year.

"When we made a vow to God,” Theda admits, "our mountain of debt didn't crumble, it exploded!"

SPEECH-IMPAIRED TODDLER CATCHES UP IN ONE MONTH

He could say only five words, and he had never said, "Mommy.” As a nurse and mother, Lisa knew something was wrong with her two-year-old son, Kenneth. A normal two-year-old’s vocabulary includes up to 200 words.

After examining Kenneth thor­oughly, several doctors concluded that he was one year behind in his speech development. A battery of tests offered no explanation for this problem; and after three months of therapy, he had made no visible progress.

Early one morning. Lisa came across Success-N-Life, and Robert Tilton was speaking about a young child with a speech problem who would be miraculously healed (Mk. 7:34-35). Lisa reached out in faith and prayed with Pastor Tilton. Later, she called the Miracle Prayer Center and thanked the Lord with a $500 vow of faith for her son's healing.

In less than a week. Kenneth was talking! Overwhelmed by this miracle, Lisa turned her life over to Jesus Christ.

In one month, Kenneth's vocabulary grew to more than 100 words, but the one Lisa loves to hear him say most is, "Mommy.”

DISAPPEARANCE OF MALIGNANT MELANOMA AMAZES SURGEON

"Elva, you have malignant melanoma,” he told her after initial surgery. Although well schooled in patient relations, her doctor had found no easy way to present the cold facts. Elva left the hospital crying. How could this have happened to her, a vibrant woman of 35?

Just days ago, she was happily caring for her husband and son: now she faced a second surgery and possibly even death.

Constantly scared, Elva began watching Christian television. That's how she found Success-N-Life. "I was looking for someone to agree with me for a miracle healing,”Elva remembers.

One day Robert Tilton said that God wanted to heal a woman who had cancer and who was watching the program. Elva believed she was the woman and quickly placed her hand on the TV screen and prayed. Later, she called the prayer center and made a $100 vow to thank the Lord for her healing.

Her tests came back normal but convinced that the cancer was in her lymph glands, her doctors proceeded with the surgery. Much to their surprise, they found no trace of the cancer (1 Pet. 2:24). "The Lord healed me,” Elva declares, "and now I have true peace."

DOCTOR CALLS KIDNEY RESTORATION A MIRACLE

When her doctor couldn't identify the cause of Ginger's headache, nausea, and vomiting, her husband decided to take her to the Mayo Clinic for diagnosis. There a team of specialists discovered that her kidneys were operating at a capacity of only 50 percent.

"In essence, they told me to go home and wait until 1 didn't have any kidneys left, then they would begin searching for a donor,” she recalls.

Ginger believed that by suffering through her illness, she would encourage others. It wasn't until she watched Robert Tilton on television that she learned sickness does not glorify God. "The Lord has already taken care of these things,” she heard Pastor Tilton say (Mt. 8:17).

After making a $1,000 vow for her healing, Ginger continued to watch Success-N-Life. One day she heard Robert Tilton say that someone needed her kidneys healed. Claiming this prophecy, Ginger put her hands on the TV and asked God for a miracle. “I haven't been the same since," she announces.

Ginger's doctor has no problem with the healing either. "It's a miracle!" he exclaims.

KIDNAPPED BABY FOUND SAFE IN DRUG-INFESTED NEIGHBORHOOD

When someone stole her daughter's car and drove away with her 18-month-old granddaughter in the back seat. Cheryl immediately called the Success-N-Life Miracle Prayer Center.

She asked a prayer minister to agree with her that the police would find Amber quickly and unharmed.

Cheryl knew prayer and vowing worked (Ps. 50:14-15). They had pulled her out of several low points in her life: depression from two failed marriages, a mountain of debt, and the struggles of opening a new business. But now Cheryl's faith was on the line and severely tested.

Police responded vigorously to the emergency, sending several officers to search for the car that held the missing little girl. Acting on a hunch, one officer headed for a drug-infested apartment complex where thieves often abandoned stolen cars. Amid gunfire in this drug war zone, miraculously, he found the car and the baby, asleep with a lollipop in her hand.

Cheryl knew God had intervened, especially when the police officer told her that this was only the second kidnapping to be successfully solved this year in her city.

THREE DAY HEMORRHAGE STOPS TWO HOURS AFTER PRAYER

As she rushed her husband Charles to the emergency room because he was bleeding intestinally, Myrtle prayed harder than she ever had. Once her husband was at the hospital, his doctors discovered that the lower intestinal tract was flooded with blood. They ordered a series of tests, but were unable to locate the source of the bleeding.

For three days Myrtle remained in constant prayer for her husband's healing. "But I felt like nothing was happening,” she admits. “I needed someone to pray with me.” An avid viewer of Success-N-Life, she decided to call the prayer center and ask someone to pray in agreement with her (Mt. 18:19).

"As soon as the phone minister prayed with me for Charles' healing, peace flooded my heart and mind,” she says.

'Two hours after Myrtle's call, Charles' bleeding stopped. X-rays revealed a mysterious clotting in his lower intestinal tract. Charles and Myrtle praise God for this miracle.

WOMAN HEALED OF SYSTEMIC LUPUS; RETURNS TO WORK IN FIVE DAYS

"I was practically an invalid,” Brenda says of the severe effects of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). "I couldn't sit or walk without pain.” She consulted five physicians before the disease was diagnosed.

As Brenda lay on the sofa watching television one morning, she came across Success-N-Life. When Robert Tilton prayed for the sick, she put her hand on the TV screen and felt an intense heat go through her body.

"Everything miraculously changed,” she exclaims. Then Brenda called the prayer line and made a $100 vow of thanksgiving.

Five days later, she felt so good that she went back to work for the first time in months. Brenda knows God completely healed her (Ps. 103:3-4). She no longer has aches and pains and is able to be in the sun without repercussions. Not only were her doctors amazed, but when her husband saw her healing, he accepted the Lord as his Savior.

"I knew miracles were possible. I just didn't know how to ask for them,” Brenda says. "But through this ministry I have learned how to use my faith.”