Intelsat Reports Financial Reporting Weakness By ANDY PASZTOR Wall Street Journal
April 17, 2006 8:39 p.m. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114531806636828151.html?mod=technology_main_whats_news LOS ANGELES -- Satellite-operator Intelsat Ltd. said it has identified a "new material weakness" in internal procedures related to "ineffective controls" over documentation of certain general ledger accounts and insufficient safeguards "to ensure the accuracy" of financial information covering some of the company's debt. In disclosing the problems "with respect to financial reporting processes," the Bermuda-based company's 10-K says it has implemented or is in the midst of implementing various "remedial steps," including hiring consultants to assist the accounting and finance departments and hiring additional "experienced accounting personnel." The filing also says Intelsat, which has headquarters in Washington, D.C., will train staff to ensure timely and accurate presentation and management review of financial documents closing out future periods. The latest problems prompted Intelsat to twice postpone reporting year-end 2005 results, which it finally issued earlier in the day. Company officials have stressed that the procedural weaknesses haven't resulted in restatement of any prior-period results or revenue and backlog figures. The company recently announced hiring a permanent new chief financial officer. The filing also indicates that for the current year, Intelsat expects total capital expenditures to slip to about $120 million, the lowest level in six years and less than half of such outlays for 2003 and 2004. Capital expenditures totaled $133.5 million for all of 2005. Most of the projected 2006 expenditures are related to construction and launch of a single new satellite. ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 antunes at uh dot edu Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
