Ford restates earnings and finds an extra $550 million in Q3

The accountants over at Ford have cleaned off their desks looking for every available financial number between 2001 and 2005 and discovered the company had actually made more money than it originally reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In fact, the $5.8 billion net loss the Blue Oval recorded for the third quarter of 2006 has been reduced by $550 million to $5.25 billion. For the first three quarters of 2006, the company found an additional $250 million that reduces its year-to-date loss to an even $7 billion. The accounting adjustments come mainly from Ford's finance division and has something to do with derivatives and volatile interest rates. Whatever. Money's money and Ford will take it, even if it's money from the past that has already spent by now. Analysts aren't too impressed by the on-paper improvement either, noting that the corrections don't change the fact that Ford's pre-Way Forward turn around plan announced in 2002 didn't work. Ford will be filing new paperwork with the SEC by November 20th that finally brings its financial reportings in line with SEC requirements.
[Source: Automotive News]