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To: Skeeter Bug who wrote (14723)	7/12/2001 2:52:37 PM
From: Boca_PETE	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42834

Skeeter Bug- We've discussed your accountant conspiracy theories before to no avail so I will let you believe whatever you like. But I can assure you from close personal experience (35+ years) that earnings releases, quarterly and annual SEC reports, and annual reports to shareholders, together with all relevant supports are closely examined by independent CPA firms before they issue their opinion on company financial statements. You need to understand that Reported EPS must include everything, whereas the objective of Normalized "Operating Earnings" is to exclude the non-recurring one-time items and disclose the detail of the material excluded items. It's all there for everyone to pick and choose what is needed to do whatever analysis is desired. Many unskilled in accounting and analysis are unaware of this. Some of these people take unsubstantiated unfair shots at the messenger - the accounting profession. You also need to understand that different people see the same thing differently. Just walk around a chair and observe the differences you see from the different viewpoints. For example, "Gains on sales of investments" could be seen as a one-time item if they are non-recurring, or they could be ongoing every period and therefore considered to be part of normal ongoing operations. Accounting is not all black and white - there is lots of grey in between. P

To: Skeeter Bug who wrote (14723)	7/12/2001 4:22:11 PM
From: Math Junkie	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42834

In every quarter's press releases, Microsoft has one called Financial Highlights which clearly states how much of the revenue came from investments. For example, the one for FY2000 states that 1.13 billion out of their 22.96 billion in revenue was investment income. microsoft.com If they give earnings with the loss excluded in the upcoming report, I predict that they will also state earnings with the effect of the loss included. Since there is disagreement about what to include, I think that is the best they can do.