Avon SEC settlement
This article was originally published in The Rose Sheet
Executive Summary
Avon enters settlement agreement with Securities and Exchange Commission regarding 1999 accounting write-off related to an aborted initiative to develop customized order management system. Under the settlement, announced July 17, Avon will restate its first quarter 1999 results by lowering reported earnings per share by 5 cents, and restate third quarter 2001 results with EPS increase of 6 cents. Company recorded partial write-off of approximately $15 mil. for the software system in the first quarter of 1999 and wrote off the remaining $24 mil. in the third quarter of 2001. Costs consisted mainly of professional service fees paid to Coopers & Lybrand, PricewaterhouseCoopers. SEC determined entire software value should have been written off in the first quarter of 1999. Settlement did not involve any penalty or fine...