The three firms said they have applied to file their second-quarter earnings statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission late, as ongoing stock options accounting probes are not yet complete.
McAfee said that it is more likely than not that it will be forced to restate earnings for at least one quarter. Juniper was more specific, saying for the first time that it may have to restate quarters going back to the beginning of 2003.
Juniper said its audit committee has reached a preliminary conclusion that the actual measurement dates for financial accounting purposes of certain stock option grants issued in the past differ from the recorded grant dates of such awards.
Rambus’ language mimicked Juniper’s. None of the three companies have yet received delisting notices.
There are about 80 companies in similar situations, at various stages of probing stock options expensing.
The investigations concern the practice of stock option back-dating, where executives are granted stock options based on historical prices, giving them the benefit of hindsight and the chance to get a better return when the shares are sold to regular investors.
The practice is widely thought unethical, but is not believed to be illegal. However, for accounting purposes, backdating means stock options sometimes wind up being expensed in the incorrect quarter.
