
Please try another search
By Chris Prentice
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -California-based Toymaker Mattel Inc (NASDAQ:MAT) has agreed to pay $3.5 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charges over financial misstatements in 2017, the agency said on Friday.
Mattel, which makes Barbie and Fisher-Price toys, incorrectly reported its losses during the third and fourth quarters of 2017 due to tax reporting errors, the SEC said. The issue went uncorrected until November 2019 and the lack of internal control for financial reporting related to the error remained undisclosed. The company's chief executive officer and the audit committee were not told of the error.
A spokesperson for Mattel, which did not admit or deny the SEC's findings, said the firm is pleased to have the matter behind it. Shares of Mattel fell 1% in extended trade on Friday.
The SEC said it is separately initiating litigation against a former audit partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP to determine whether he engaged in improper professional conduct and violated auditor independence rules.
Auditor Joshua Abrahams failed to verify that the uncorrected $109 million error was documented, even though he knew about it, the SEC alleged. He further failed to maintain auditor independence by advising Mattel's then-chief financial officer about who should be selected for a senior position at the company.
A spokesperson for PWC declined to comment.
Thomas Zaccaro, an attorney for Abrahams, described the charges as "meritless" and said "he will vigorously contest these baseless allegations."
The matter will be scheduled for a public hearing before the Commission, the SEC said.
Are you sure you want to block %USER_NAME%?
By doing so, you and %USER_NAME% will not be able to see any of each other's Investing.com's posts.
%USER_NAME% was successfully added to your Block List
Since you’ve just unblocked this person, you must wait 48 hours before renewing the block.
I feel that this comment is:
Thank You!
Your report has been sent to our moderators for review
Add a Comment
We encourage you to use comments to engage with other users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:
Enrich the conversation, don’t trash it.
Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically. Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user. Racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated.
Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.