Had a good discussion with a few analysts (financial) and accounting on the question around differences between Restatement and Recertification of results - what are they, what is the difference etc.?

1. Restatement: It will effectively rewite a company's books. Dr. Min Wu of New York Univ of Business has a great paper on Review of earnings restatement. Here are some highlights:

a) Restatements typically occur when a company, often in consultation with its auditors or the SEC, determines that the company's financial statements contained either "errors" resulting from "mathematical mistakes, oversight, or misuse of facts at the time the financial statements were originally prepared," or "accounting irregularities." The dissertation focuses on these types of restatements. In reality, it can be hard to distinguish between intentional misstatements and misinterpreting the accounting rules.

b) There are several reasons for restatements. The first involves companies that prematurely recognize revenues, or, even worse, recognize fictitious revenues. Misstating costs or expenses is one of the most common ways of twisting current-year profits. Common techniques involve overstating inventory, overstating other long-term assets, underestimating or overestimating reserves, and shifting expenses from one period to another.

Restatement can involve SEC-filed annual reports (10Ks), which are audited, and possibly the quarterly reports (10Qs). It can also involve only the interim quarters of the current fiscal year.

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