Just like you never want to hear a doctor say "oops" in the operating room, you never want to see a going-concern statement in a financial report about a company you own. Accountants throw these in when they've been over the books, talked to customers, and checked the horoscopes and have concluded there is "substantial doubt" about a company's ability to remain in business. In short, don't blame the accountants if the company files for bankruptcy protection.

You¿d reckon that a going-concern statement would be enough to send investors running to the exits, but it's not. True, many large institutions automatically bail when an existing company gets slapped with one of these, but many individuals (often wrongly) take a chance they know more than the bean counters.

During the tech boom of the late 1990s, many companies actually went public even though they had been hit with going-concern statements. Many of those companies subsequently disappeared. Enough said.

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Friday, July 18, 2008

Citi Posts $2.5B 2Q Loss Amid Soaring Loan Defaults

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Associated Press

Citigroup (C) says it posted a $2.5 billion loss and laid off more employees in the second quarter as it struggled with surging loan defaults.

The nation's biggest banking company by assets reported Friday it lost $2.5 billion, or 54 cents per share, in the April-June period. In the same timeframe last year, the bank earned $6.23 billion, or $1.24 per share.

Thomson Financial says analysts had predicted a loss of 66 cents share.

Citigroup Inc.'s securities and banking division has written down its assets by $7.2 billion, before taxes. Credit costs have jumped to $7.2 billion as more consumers defaulted on their loans.

The bank reduced its work force by 6,000 during the quarter. That brings its job cut total to 11,000 for 2008.