News

Symbol Technologies may face SEC charges

March 19, 2003

HOLTSVILLE, N.Y. -- Symbol Technologies and certain former employees could face civil charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission stemming from a previously announced investigation into accounting practices, the maker of bar code scanners said on March 13.

Shares fell 19 percent to $8.70 immediately after the company made the announcements, according to a CBS MarketWatch report. On March 20, the stock opened at $9.55 and was trading at $9.61 at mid-day.

The SEC announcement followed the March 12 resignation of  Robert Korkuc, the company's chief accounting officer and vice president. Chief Financial Officer Mark Greenquist took over those duties on an interim basis.

In a separate announcement, Symbol said it and its independent auditors are reviewing 2002 financial results and preparing a restatement of previously reported results dating back to 1999.

Symbol previously said a restatement should reduce reported revenue for 1999 and 2000 by no more than 10 percent; revenue in 2001 and 2002 should increase an unspecified amount.

For 2002, the latest results from the audit indicate that certain department-level accrued expenses totaling $9 million were improperly understated or applied. The company terminated the employee responsible in February.

Further, the correction of these entries resulted in the company not meeting thresholds that would have triggered performance bonuses for all executive officers and certain other employees. Because the performance bonuses, which were already calculated into the year's income, equal the improper entries, Symbol's reported income remains the same.

First-quarter results are scheduled to be reported on April 29.