Waste Management : The Definition of an Asset
Synopsis
In February 1998 Waste Management announced that it was restating the financial statements it had issued for the years 1993 through 1996. In its restatement, Waste Management said that materially overstated its reported pretax earnings by $1.43 billion. After the announcement, the company’s stock dropped by more than 33 percent, and shareholders lost over $6 billion.
The SEC brought charges against the company’s founder, Dean Buntrock, and five other former top officers. The charges alleged that management had made repeated changes to depreciation-rerated estimates to reduce expense and had employed several improper accounting practices related to capitalization policies, also designed to reduce expenses. In its final judgment, the SEC permanently barred Buntrock and three other executives from acting as officers or directors of public companies and required payment from them of $30.8 million in penalties.