In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
Failures, Morons, and Crooks: Bush 2004
What Cheney Should Have Known
Being CEO of Halliburton apparently didn't mean being privy to a key accounting decision that boosted pretax income by almost half
Let's get this straight. In the second quarter of 1998, Halliburton (HAL ) made a big change in the way it accounted for cost overruns at its massive global construction projects. As a result, it received a boost to its pretax income for the year of 46.1%, to $278.8 million -- even though its underlying business had not changed at all.
The accounting maneuver was legal, but it's certainly the kind of major news investors have a right to know. Nonetheless, somebody at the company decided not to tell them about it. Not a word was breathed in Halliburton's securities filings, earnings releases, or analyst teleconferences for the next six quarters.
VERY RARE SCENARIO. Who's accountable? According to the Securities & Exchange Commission, the buck stops with Halliburton's former controller and chief financial officer, who are being fined and sued, respectively, for their roles in the debacle. But the one person whom the agency specifically excluded from blame is the man who served as CEO at the time: Vice-President Dick Cheney. In a rare move for federal law enforcers, the SEC issued a press release on Aug. 3 declaring that "the investigative record developed by its staff" did not justify any further charges.
Okay is anyone else freaked by the fact that Halliburton's stock symbol is HAL?
The second-most important political executive in our country claims to be ignorant of one of the key business decisions his company made during his tenure as CEO. It may well be that an underling was willing to make such an important call without telling Cheney, but make no mistake: This type of scenario would be very rare, even in pre-Sarbanes-Oxley Corporate America.
"The thing executives care the most about is how they look in terms of the numbers," says University of Texas School of Law securities expert Henry T.C. Hu. "An accounting decision that is going to affect performance by nearly half is usually the type of thing the CFO would discuss with the head of the company."
So Cheney's reign at Halliburton is much like the reign of the Bush Administration. Either they are corrupt and don't care about their legal and ethical responsiblities or they are incredibly incompetent and out of touch. Your choice. Being a "wishy washy liberal" I'd have to say it is probably both.
- rob 2:01 PM - [PermaLink] -
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