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- THE WEEK, Page 28BUSINESSUpstart vs. Wall Street
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- A high-flying computer outfit fights accusations that it cooked
- the books
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- Dell computer's meteoric rise to the top ranks of the
- personal-computer industry has kept rivals wondering for some
- time how the manufacturer has managed to sustain its miraculous
- climb. Then a Wall Street analyst claimed he had the answer: the
- PC maker's ascent had less to do with miracles than with some
- sleight-of-hand accounting. In a blistering report to investors,
- David Korus of Kidder, Peabody charged that Dell accounted
- improperly for foreign-currency trades and suggested that
- currency speculation may have been used to inflate the company's
- profits. The report touched off a wave of nervous selling in
- Dell stock. It also touched a nerve at Dell. The company issued
- a scathing denial of Korus' allegations. "Management's intent
- was for hedging," said Dell about the trades, "not for
- speculative gain." The Austin, Texas, manufacturer has
- threatened to file lawsuits against Korus and his firm. In
- addition, it called for an investigation by the Securities and
- Exchange Commission.
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