Elmer, RE: No kidding. Not even AMD would lie on their 10Q
When I think about it, the probability that a company will lie on their 10-Q is higher now, not lower.
(No, I don't think that Intel or AMD will lie on their respective 10-Q's, but the probability that a company in general will lie is higher.)
My logic: Pre-Enron, nobody read the 10-Q, save for the random financial geek. Unscrupulous companies would say just about everything and know that it wouldn't matter, because nobody read the stuff. And when the SEC came a-callin', the company could legitimately say that they were informing everyone all along, pointing at the 10-Q.
Now, the 10-Q is required reading on every Wall St. analyst's to-do list. If you disclose a negative detail in the 10-Q, it will be reflected pretty quickly in the marketplace. A company now has a lot more incentive to publish false statements in the 10-Q (unaudited, remember) to keep the market from discovering issues. |
