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Strategies & Market Trends : Paint The Table -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: benchpress550 who wrote (13441)	2/7/2002 12:21:26 AM
From: AugustWest	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 23786

Just thinking out loud here. Okay, okay, no jokes please<G> Might one argue that it is a double edged sword sort of thing? Cuts both ways. Just need to decide which edge is sharper. One edge says orders are on the increase, which means businesses are ordering more but at the same time(the other edge) they are taking longer to pay for it. So which edge is sharper, or more meaningful. If they are ordering more that means we are beginning to see that uptick in spending. But if they are planning on paying later than what happens if they are unable to pay later? More write offs somewhere down the road? Isn't this what initially put Cisco's accounting under the spot light two or so years ago? But I think that is the same thing they wanted us to know this morning before the bell, that bookings were to exceed previous estimates. Now they are saying "but they are gonna be deferred. I guess I really don't know and wish I had a prettier smile so I wouldn't feel the need to think about these things. note: so the previous write off of $2.5B is now down to $135M(do I have those figures correct?) Which is a good thing, unless, or especially if there is a chance of another write off at a later date. Isn't this sort of a monster we created? I mean the use and subsequent acceptance of pro forma earnings. It became a free ticket to report earnings of what ever needed to be met or exceeded. So just wait until the end of the quarter and start massaging the books/ balance sheet to fit what ever would work best at that particular time. Again, I wish I had a prettier smile! P.S> Did anyone look at the numbers to get an understanding of what was meant by the pro forma vs. GAAP earnings? I think GAAP will eventually need to be reviewed and revised again before this whole thing can be settled and/or more easily understood.