Dell Audit Finds Evidence of Misconduct

By Geoff Duncan March 30, 2007

Computer maker Dell has announced that the company’s internal audit committee has found evidence of a number of accounting errors as well as outright misconduct. The company also said evidence of “deficiencies in the financial control environment” will lead the company to delay it’s Form 10-K filing for its fiscal year ending in February as it determines whether the errors and deficiencies will impact prior financial statements. Financial statements issued for that fiscal years’ final three quarters have only been issued in preliminary form and have yet to be finalized.

The statement is the most serious admission to date of the Texas company’s ongoing financial troubles as it struggles to retain (or, depending how you count it, regain) its top spot among PC manufacturers.

Dell has not said how long the remainder of its internal investigation will take, and no other details about the investigation were released. Dell is currently the subject of a formal investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York has subpoenaed Dell financial records going back to 2002. The company is also facing a spate of shareholder lawsuits.

In response to sliding market share as well as ongoing financial and accounting concerns, the company has parted ways with several top executives (including CEO Kevin Rollins and CFO Jim Schneider) and brought back company founder Michael Dell in the CEO position.

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