More fundamentally, the financial statements of a company that has engaged in backdating may require restatement.
Moreover, if backdating occurs without the compensation committee's knowledge, illegal insider trading may also have occurred.
Backdating is not necessarily illegal, but it must be disclosed to investors and accounted for properly.
As employers came across other firms using backdating, they felt obliged to do so too.
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The board has cleared him of any wrongdoing, but admits some backdating did take place.
This is the government's second series of charges filed against former executives in connection with options backdating.
His prosecutor, Andrew Stolper (Santa Ana, CA), brought him up on charges for backdating stock options.
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He handled tricky assignments like investigating the backdating of executive options, so Jobs could concentrate on iThings.
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Backdating may violate the Internal Revenue Code, and companies may not be able to deduct the options payments.
The SEC claims that Quantek made a habit out of backdating misleading investment approval memoranda signed by Guerra.
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This is seen as a test case for the dozens of other executives embroiled in the options-backdating scandal.
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The mutterings about disproportionate punishment are even louder in options backdating, the other corporate scandal of the moment.
Securities law violations are not the only potential problems with backdating options grants.
Last December Broadcom CFO William Ruehle stood trial for charges on 21 counts of options backdating and securities fraud.
Let us switch gears to another topic: Apple and its options backdating problem.
If they didn't know about the backdating, the question will be: Should they have done more to discover it?
The only cloud over Apple is that is the darn options backdating issue.
The other alleged red flags in Picower's accounts include trade backdating and Madoff's inability to meet Picower's redemption requests.
Come to think of it, Apple, which finds itself distracted by an options backdating scandal, should fire Sonsini, too.
Backdating itself isn't illegal, but it has to be disclosed and must be properly accounted for in the company's expenses.
Kreinberg is the former CFO at Comverse Technology , and he has agreed to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges related to options backdating.
And then he was on the board of UnitedHealth from the late 1990s onwards when the company was backdating stock options.
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He will probably be required to testify against Alexander, says Nicole LeBeau, an attorney and backdating expert with law firm Fowler White.
Prosecutors claim Mr. Tamman changed and backdating documents, removed incriminating documents from investor files and lied to SEC investigators in sworn testimony.
But there's a new kind of fiduciary misconduct floating around: options backdating.
Although there may be nothing illegal about backdating per se, failure to disclose it or properly account for it may constitute fraud.
In both cases, prosecutors allege acts by top executives that were hidden from board scrutiny and the widespread backdating of options grants.
The first of those indictments, which accuses Nicholas of 21 federal charges of options backdating, is scheduled to go to trial in February.
Backdating, in which options are dated retroactively to coincide with low points in the stock price, can increase the profit for the recipient.
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