There are now more than 100 companies under fire for their past stock options granting practices. As a result, names like Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Rambus (NASDAQ:RMBS), and Brocade (NASDAQ:BRCD) will be restating their past financial results.
But while the backdating scandal has fueled this latest wave, the fact is that restatements are a part of life in the business world. Just think about that for a moment. With a snap of a finger, earnings from three years ago vanish, and new figures take their place.
What if it were that easy in real life?
Top 10 Non-Financial Restatements
10. The Hilton family restated their daughter Paris. She is now a Ph.D. candidate in structural engineering at Princeton.
9. President George W. Bush restated his college report cards, giving himself "straight A's for Awesome American" in all subjects.
8. Sen. John Kerry restated his entire 2004 presidential campaign, declaring that he was for the campaign before he was against it.
7. Barbara Walters restated two decades' worth of interview transcripts, with the "r" and "l" sounds now pronounced correctly.
6. Kevin Federline restated the content of his debut album into something humans might possibly enjoy listening to.
5. Jay Leno restated more than a decade's worth of monologues. The Dancing Itos? Never happened.
4. Ben Franklin restated several of his sayings. For example, it's now, "Early to bed, early to rise, and selling YouTube to Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) makes a man healthy, wealthy, and frugal."
3. The Chicago Cubs restated themselves to the Triple-A Pacific Coast League and are retroactively claiming one championship and two second-place finishes.
2. Bruce Willis restated the box-office receipts for 1991's Hudson Hawk, making it the highest-grossing film of all time. Roger Ebert refused to restate his review of the film.
1. The Fool has restated this top 10 list. You are now reading "Top 10 Amusing Things About Pickled Herring."
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