there are no IOS commands in this posting. hit "D" now.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020729/ap_on_bi_ge/qwest_2

Not too much of a surprise.

you mean the part where it says... Qwest bought telephonic capacity on another company's system and booked it as a capital expense, which is only recorded slowly over several years, while selling the same amount of capacity to the other firm, and booking that immediately as revenue. ...or was there something else which ought to have apalled you and didn't? completely by accident, but to my great good fortune, i heard http://www.sec.gov/news/speech/spch577.htm in real time and i've got to say that harvey pitt sounds like the man for this moment. quoting his speech: ... corporate officers and directors, and especially the CEOs and CFOs, must personally assume responsibility for compliance with our full disclosure laws. The ouster of unfit officers and directors is a critical tool to ensure that officers and directors "get it," that their mission is to safeguard the interests of shareholders. It is also important to prevent any corporate wrongdoers from getting a second chance to injure investors. ... And, speaking of WorldCom, we heeded the lessons of Enron by taking WorldCom to federal court on financial fraud charges, and seeking the appointment of a corporate monitor - former SEC Chairman Richard Breeden - to ensure that no WorldCom records would be destroyed, and no WorldCom assets would be dissipated by extraordinary payments to present or former officers, directors or employees. The filing of that action so quickly, and the obtaining of effective interim relief so rapidly, is a tribute to our crackerjack trial unit in the Enforcement Division. ... I am attaching to this speech, which should now be available on the SEC's Web page, a summary of nearly two-dozen major achievements by the Commission over the past 11 months, including accelerated filing of periodic reports, amendments to enhance investors' understanding of companies' critical accounting principles, and a required CEO/CFO certification of companies' quarterly and annual reports. that recertification thing is going to cause any number of public companies to restate, especially in cases where the CEO and CFO have been replaced, since oddball bookkeeping tricks are finally getting the scrutiny they so richly deserve, and new executive teams are NOT willing to do jail time on behalf of prior executive teams. (securities law used to allow this kind of responsibility-laundering, but those days, thankfully, are now gone.) and then there's http://www.sec.gov/news/speech/spch578.htm, wherein pitt says: Our next matter is a recommendation by the Staff of the Division of Market Regulation that the Commission propose a rule that would require analysts to certify that research reports they issue represent their actual views and to provide disclosures as to whether they have received compensation for the opinions expressed in those reports. ... that's going to put most of the analysts i've watched completely out of business. somebody finally asked "how is it that these analysts all own expensive cars and real estate" and the answers were apparently non-pretty. (disclaimer: i've got nothing against Q or WCOM per se.) -- Paul Vixie