|
contents | business | |||||||||
| McAlpine investigates possible fraud at its slate division London-based Alfred McAlpine said that its internal audit team has uncovered a systematic misrepresentation of production volumes and sales for a number of years by a number of senior managers at the slate subsidiary. In addition, those involved sought to conceal the financial implications of their actions through the pre-selling of slate at substantially discounted prices. "The board believes that the behaviour and collusion of the managers responsible has been entirely deliberate and involves the possibility of fraud," the construction services group said in a statement. These accounting issues dating back to 2003 will involve a restatement of the 2005 net assets of the business by approximately £11m and a reduction in the expected pre-tax profit of the slate business in the year to 31 December 2006 by approximately £13m. McAlpine said that the historic actions of those involved will continue to have a material impact on the profitability and cash generation of the Slate business in 2007. It forecast the slate business to make an increased pre-tax loss in the year ending 31 December 2007. write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Construction News :: home page |