Accounting scandal may eat at core of Apple's $3bn profits

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Apple has been forced to reinstate its financial earnings statements for the past four years, following on from an internal investigation into stock option grant fiddling.

This red-faced acknowledgement of accounting anomalies follows on from former Brocade chief executive Greg Reyes's court appearance this week for his alleged involvement in stock option fraud.

"...The Company today filed a Form 8-K stating that the financial statements and all earnings and press releases and similar communications issued by the Company relating to periods commencing on September 29, 2002 should therefore not be relied upon," the company said in a statement.

Since 2002, the computer giant has reported more than $3bn in profits. At present, it is unclear just how far from the truth these figures will appear after the investigation. Apple said it was keen to resolve the issues and file its results for the last quarter as quickly as possible.

"As Apple previously announced, an internal investigation discovered irregularities related to the issuance of certain stock option grants made between 1997 and 2001. A special committee of Apple's outside directors has hired independent counsel to perform an investigation, and the Company has informed the SEC. As a result of the ongoing investigation, the Company will delay the filing of its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended July 1, 2006," said the computer giant.

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