Time Warner Inc said on Thursday it will restate its financial results after an independent auditor found problems with the way it accounted for a number of transactions in 2000 and 2001, mainly involving online advertising.
The restatement came as part of a settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission which was announced in March of last year and required the company to pay a US$300 million penalty.
Under the agreement, Time Warner also agreed to appoint an independent examiner to review the historical accounting for several transactions, including three cable programming affiliation agreements that had online advertising components.
With that review now complete, the company will restate results going back to 2000. The examiner reviewed Time Warner's transactions with 17 other companies and found problems in the dealings with 15 of them, involving a total of US$584 million in revenue. The company didn't identify the counterparties in the transactions.
The auditor found that deals often involved AOL getting advertising commitments from the counterparties while also agreeing to buy products or services from them or make an investment in the other company, Time Warner said in a regulatory filing.
In addition to the revenue recognition, the independent examiner also found that Time Warner needed to adjust the cost of acquisitions that were made, and that some marketing expenses weren't recorded at the right time.
The final effect of the restatements will be to reduce the company's profits by about US$1 million in 2000 and US$161 million in 2001, while increasing its profits by about US$62 million in 2002, US$18 million in 2003, US$30 million in 2004 and US$16 million last year. For the first six months of this year, the restatement will raise its earnings by US$15 million.
The amounts are relatively small for a company of Time Warner's size. Time Warner posted profit of US$1 billion on revenue of US$10.7 billion for the second quarter.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)