Apparently not everyone has done so.

On BearingPoint's stock collapse, the link I gave has this:

On Aug. 14, 2003, BearingPoint announced it had overstated its net income and earnings per share for the first three quarters of FY 2003 by $10.8 million. The announcement caused BearingPoint's stock value to plummet 23 percent in one day. On Aug. 20, a shareholder filed a securities fraud class action lawsuit against the company in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The suit alleges that four BearingPoint executives—Randolph Blazer, Michael Donahue, former chief financial officer and executive vice president Robert Lamb and Lamb's successor, Robert Falcone—disseminated false and misleading information regarding the company's financial status between October 2002 and August 2003. "We believe the suit has no merit," company spokesman John Schneidawind told the online legal journal Law.com, "and we will vigorously defend against it."

Which is what I meant by saying there were reports they made up figures to suit themselves.

Regards, C

BearingPoint, Inc. (NYSE:BE) is one of the world’s largest management consulting and systems integration firms serving Global 2000 companies, small and medium-sized businesses, government agencies and other organizations. We have approximately 60 alliances with key technology providers that support and complement our service offerings. We work with our alliance partners to develop comprehensive solutions to common business issues, offer the expertise required to deliver those solutions, lead in the development of new products, capitalize on joint marketing opportunities and remain at the forefront of technology advances.

$2M for 10 folks working on this isn't a bad price, not asking whether this is actually useful/used information. That gives $100-140k salary, plus the overhead of HR and the secretaries, etc. I'll bet that at least one (probably more) is a retired Ambassador. So this also keeps folks current that might be hired into the next Administration, revolving door.

This is how the DC contractor world works (ditto the lobbying world, but you need legislative contacts to get in there). This reminds me of why I didn't become a government contractor after I retired from the Navy despite job offers; there is no telling what job you will end up doing - some are good and useful, and some are not, and you have no control over the process.

This also shows how tough it is to kill a contract.

The Center For Public Integrity's entry on Bearing Point makes for interesting reading.

$240million plus for strengthening Iraq's economy? Doesn't this news that they write the State Dept's reports on progress in Iraq make them their own watchdogs? And what then are we to make of the reports that they make up figures to suit themselves?

Regards, C