AOL Time Warner admits inaccurate accounting

AOL Time Warner has admitted it may have "improperly recognised" revenues from three transactions at its America Online unit.

AOL Time Warner has admitted it may have "improperly recognised" revenues from three transactions at its America Online unit.

Accounting practices at America Online are already being scrutinised by US regulators.

The company said the transactions in question totalled about £32 million sterling over 18 months. AOL Time Warner said it is still examining those and other transactions at AOL and has not yet made a final determination on whether they are accounted for properly.

America Online's accounting practices have been called into question after a series of articles appeared in the Washington Postlast month detailing unusual techniques that AOL used for booking revenues, including advertisements sold on behalf of eBay that were treated as revenue for AOL.

READ MORE

The latest announcement marks a departure from AOL Time Warner's previous assertions that its accounting was sound.

Quote
I am committed to completing our internal review and resolving those questions on a thorough and timely basis, and we are moving forward to implement additional internal controls at AOL.
Unquote
AOL Time Warner's chief executive, Mr Richard Parsons

The company did not identify which transactions were involved but said it had based its initial conclusion on information that emerged in the past 10 days. The transactions occurred from the last quarter of 2000 through the first quarter of this year.

In a statement, AOL Time Warner's chief executive, Mr Richard Parsons, said: "I am committed to completing our internal review and resolving those questions on a thorough and timely basis, and we are moving forward to implement additional internal controls at AOL".

He said he expects the review to be complete by the end of the third quarter and that he and chief financial officer Mr Wayne Pace had certified the company's financial statements in accordance with a directive from the Securities and Exchange Commission.