(This could be interesting, but the AP seems to be down playing this story.)
The Associated Press
Wednesday, May 10, 2006; 8:21 PM
NORTH CANTON, Ohio -- The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into how voting-machine maker Diebold Inc. reports revenue, the company said Wednesday.
The informal inquiry into Diebold, which also makes security equipment and ATMs, apparently involves two occasions when the company had to restate revenue, company spokesman Mike Jacobsen said. Both situations involved the voting machine business, though Jacobsen said the inquiry covers all Diebold business.
Diebold shipped voting machines in Ohio in the second quarter of 2005 and made a change to report that revenue in the third quarter. Diebold made the change because memory cards for those voting devices were not sent until July, Jacobsen said.
The other change involved service contracts for electronic-voting systems. Jacobsen said the company was reporting revenue from the contracts at the time of purchase, rather than spreading it out over the length of the contracts. According to Diebold, the SEC indicated it had not concluded that the company had violated federal securities law.
(more at link)
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/10/AR2006051001968.html>