Dell Inc., one of the United State's largest computer manufacturers, announced today that it will reduce more than four years worth of earnings by $50 million to $150 million, after an internal probe found the company misled its auditors and manipulated results for performance goals. The restatement period covers all of 2003 to 2006, along with the first fiscal quarter of 2007. The largest reductions in quarterly profits are expected to be in the first quarter of fiscal 2003 and the second quarter of fiscal 2004, each lowered between 10 percent and 13 percent. The internal investigation, which began in August 2006 and evaluated more than 5 million documents, "identified evidence that certain adjustments appear to have been motivated by the objective of attaining financial targets," Dell said. However, the Securities and Exchange Commission's investigation into some of Dell's accounting and financial reporting practices is still ongoing.
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