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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rene Madsen who wrote (14295)	1/14/1999 7:57:00 AM
From: John Carragher	Respond to of 74651

wsj 1/14 Bean Counting: Microsoft Corp., likely to beat quarterly earnings estimates again next week, gets a stock-market premium for its financial predictability. Does it go too far to keep that track record? Charles Pancerzewski, a former Microsoft internal auditor, charged in a 1997 wrongful-discharge suit that recently came to light that Microsoft manipulated revenue reserves totaling hundreds of millions of dollars to make its profits appear more stable. Such practices are sometimes called "cookie jar" accounting, because companies put aside revenue in fat quarters (to cover things such as future product returns and promotional rebates) and add them back in leaner periods. Microsoft insists it strictly follows accepted accounting practices, and submitted 1,600 pages of documents in the case about its handling of reserves. The parties settled the case without disclosing terms. Most documents are still under seal, and Microsoft declines to comment specifically on the case. But Mr. Pancerzewski's lawyer cited a 1995 e-mail message from a former chief financial officer, Mike Brown, to Chairman Bill Gates, in which Mr. Brown wrote: "I believe we should do all we can to smooth our earnings and keep a steady state earnings model," according to a court transcript. Analysts aren't complaining. The company tends to understate rather than overstate its results.

To: Rene Madsen who wrote (14295)	1/14/1999 8:24:00 AM
From: t2	Respond to of 74651

Rene, Welcome! I like comments from MSFT haters or haters of their products. It always gets me thinking.

To: Rene Madsen who wrote (14295)	1/14/1999 10:47:00 AM
From: Gerald Walls	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74651

I'll be out of here again - unless of course somebody wants to continue this little interesting chat. The only problem is that it isn't interesting. It's the same old stuff over and over again from a whole series of people, of which you and ToySoldier are just the last two. It's tiring to both sides and eventually the bear goes away, only to be quickly replaced by a fresh, new bear intent on saving us from MSFT with their new, interesting rehash of the same old story. That's why so many people here aim right between the eyes when the next bear shows up.