“Microsoft’s most recent Windows sales totals got a boost from the fact the company quietly added revenues previously assigned to other groups to its operating systems unit, a bit of accounting legerdemain that, along with other bookkeeping moves, helped the Windows group post big gains in the past quarter, according to an InformationWeek analysis of the software maker’s SEC filings,” Paul McDougall reports for InformationWeek.
MacDailyNews Take: Ballmer.
McDougall reports, “Microsoft’s latest quarterly report shows the company bolstered revenues in its Windows, Server & Tools, and Office units in part by shifting money from other internal organizations–mostly the Entertainment and Devices Division, which sells the Xbox.”
MacDailyNews Take: Ballmer T. Clown.
McDougall reports, “Windows group sales alone may have benefited by as much as $259 million or more, just from the bookkeeping changes. Indeed, the Windows group, which includes the flagship Windows 7 OS, was the main beneficiary of the revisions, while the EDD unit was the biggest loser.”
Read more in the full article, including how Microsoft’s Big Ass Table has vanished from Microsoft’s quarterly earnings statement altogether, here.
MacDailyNews Take: May he remain Microsoft CEO for as long as it takes!
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
One day big ass will conquer the penny arcade market. When that happens, I’ll be first in line to play pinball on the awesome Microsoft B. A. T. (design inspired by ballmer T.’s arse)
Come on guys, this is just a simple accounting and rounding error.
Microsoft could borrow from EDD because it was already a loser. The gains added to their high profile Windows unit more than made up for any negatives associated with EDD because no one expects much from that unit.
Financial shenanigans accompany corporate desperation and mark the start of the big decline.
Microsofts B.A.T. sightings: Hawaii 5-0 and Ellis Island
Is that why whoever the M$ honcho is just left? Was it Robbie Bach? Can’t remember, oh well.
Hey, learned ladies and gentlemen . . .
Is this, or is it NOT, a violation of SEC accounting rules? As an investor, I would want to know Win7’s actual numbers before investing in MSFT at any level. These manipulations seem illegal, if not highly unethical, to this simple mind.
What say you, folks?
C’mon, yeah, it’s definitely just a rounding error. Yeah. That’s it. Yup.
@silverhawk
That’s exactly what I was thinking when I read the article. I wouldn’t like to be the perineal goat so Ballmer can look more like a winner. How embarrassing is that, not to mention a career killer.
I’ve heard rumors of such juggling since the 80’s. They always have amazing results…
This time he juggled and sold $2B in stock. Hmm.
You ever wonder if Monkeyboy is actually on Apple’s payroll? I mean seriously, how can one screw up so royally and still be in charge?? May he be CEO fir as long as it takes.
… and next quarter those roving numbers can flow into the W7 phone division to prove that W7 phone is outselling iPhone, Android and Nokia combined!
Don’t knock Ballmer, he’s a magician!
Not Bill writes “This time he juggled and sold $2B in stock. Hmm.”
And that proves just how selfless our beloved Ballmer is – it wasn’t for his own gain, he was spotted at several Walmarts buying truckloads of Kinects and Windows 7 phones. Next quarter is going to smash all sales forecasts…
I agree that Microsoft has been pulling a Dell and fiddling with their numbers. One, we know they’ve pulled channel stuffing stunts in the past, in order to meet financial targets. Two, the slush fund isn’t the EDD, because mgmt compensation is often tied to performance. While the head of the Windows Division probably likes having his income boosted, the head of the Xbox division, EDD, probably hates it. Three, I have written before that I believe the slush fund is actually in “Corporate-level activity” or “Reconciling amounts”. Microsoft, unlike other companies has an income center, that only loses money, called “Corporate-level activity” or “Reconciling amounts”. They lost $1B last quarter. It’s utter nonsense. Every company allocates all costs to some income center, except for Microsoft. It’s utterly ridiculous that Microsoft can hide losses in a catch-all category, which could hide actual problems in one of their real income divisions.
This is how Microsoft defines, CLA:
“Certain other corporate-level activity is not allocated to our segments, including costs of: broad-based sales and marketing; product support services; human resources; legal; finance; information technology; corporate development and procurement activities; research and development; legal settlements and contingencies; and employee severance.”
How can they not know where to allocate the costs of human resources? Utter rubbish.
Ms has been playing a shell game with its quarterly revs/earnings for years, accruing licensing numbers almost as they please, and on at least one occasion restating a past (upbeat) quarter downward and moving the dollars to a future quarter. It’s technically legal.
I read somewhere recently that Microsoft has got some of the brightest talent in the IT industry working for it.
Can that be true?
I mean, with all its long line of failures, and no end in sight, wouldn’t you have to be a bit stupid to want to work at Microsoft? Or, to have no other choice?
On topic, this kind of opaque manipulation of numbers is precisely what you would expect to see from the company. And for every one that is spotted, there are probably hundreds of others going on..
This is not a simple error – investors look to this information and make decisions about billions of dollars every day. In the normal world, what Microsoft is doing is called FRAUD, they are cooking the books. It’s part of what a sinking ship does in desperation to stay afloat.
damn.. they are pounding that m*th*r f*ck*r into the ground arent they?
I thought something was fishy over the last few months when they were saying how good their numbers were, selling hundreds of copies per second or something they said… BS!
it wont be long now, once the investors see the real numbers, and the law suits come in… its all downhill from here.
We want Bill back!
Spark: What the heck is a perineal goat? Is that like a perennial goat, which makes no sense either, or a scapegoat, which sorta does? Are you by chance using an iPhone that is “helping” you with autocorrect?
… about any accounting “issues” you see coming out of MSFT. Well, unless you own their stock. It will all come out in the end. They may be able to fudge the numbers of licenses out there, but remember what MDN has been saying most of the times it posts the results of a usage poll … it isn’t the numbers that count so much as the direction they are going in. Do we care if their numbers say they own 80% of “the market” or 99% of it? Not really. Do we care if web usage says they have 99% or 80%? Sure do. And the numbers for IE are drifting below 80% … so .
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So, anyone want to guess why Ballmer T. Clown has sold 1/6 of his Microsoft shares? The captain knows that the Microsoft Titanic is going down before the passengers do!
At one time this was called Insider Trading.
Who was supposed to be impressed by this intra-company con-job? The stockholders?
Oops.
Fan boys what a buch of idiots.I guess if you have an over priced apple anything this makes your panties wet.This matters why?