Read the Full Report (GAO-06-678)

Scope and Methodology

In the report, Financial Restatements: Update of Public Company Trends, Market Impacts, and Regulatory Enforcement Activities, (GAO-06-678), we determined the number of financial restatement announcements made to correct previously reported financial results and complied them into a database.

To identify restatement announcements, we used Lexis-Nexis, an online information service, to systematically search for restatement announcements using variations of “restate” and other relevant words. We then identified and collected information on the restatements announced by public companies from July 1, 2002, to June 30, 2006, that involved corrections of previously reported financial results. Our database generally excludes announcements involving stock splits, changes in accounting principles, and other announced restatements that were not made to correct errors in the application of accounting principles.

Data Files in This E-Supplement

For the 1,390 restatement announcements that we identified from July 2002 to September 2005, in this e-supplement we list the name of each company associated with a restatement announcement, the company’s stock symbol, the primary listing market for the stock at the time of the announcement, the date of the announcement, the reasons for the restatement, and the restatement prompter. For the 396 restatement announcements that we identified from October 2005 to June 2006, in this e-supplement we list the name of each company associated with a restatement announcement, the company’s stock symbol, the primary listing market for the stock at the time of the announcement, and the date of the announcement.


Background | Accessing Data Files