35 day month

The "35 day month"[1][2] was the basis of "$2.2 billion in accounting fraud"[3][4][5][6] regarding "events regarding an accounting scandal that started in 2002"[3][7] at Computer Associates.

The company's "books were routinely kept open until revenues exceeded projected goals."[8] Specifics were described as "a scheme to inflate sales and profits by pretending lucrative contracts were signed earlier than, in fact, they had been.[9] To support this violation of law, faxes of contracts were "cleaned up ... by removing time stamps .."[10]

The most immediate impact was that it "cost investors hundreds of millions of dollars,"[8] although unlike the matters of Worldcom and Enron, to which it was compared, "Computer Associates - since renamed CA Inc - did not go bankrupt."[9] An overview by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania wrote that corporate directors, upon seeing signs of "35-day month ... 'the three-day window ... (and) flash period" "should be especially vigilant."[11]

Named CA personnel

Reporting at the time added "other former executives have been indicted or fired;"[6] "several... have pleaded guilty to criminal charges."[9]

• Former CEO Sanjay Kumar, who served time and paid penalties[8]
• Former sales executive Stephen Richards[6]
• Former CA general counsel Steven Woghin, sentenced to two years.[12]