Chrysler Begs to Differ on $2.7b Loss
Here's the official statement, contradicting part of our story on Chrysler's post-Daimler accounts: "Several media outlets have erroneously reported a loss of approximately $2.7 billion by Chrysler between August 4 and September 30, 2007. In fact, from an operating earnings standpoint, Chrysler was profitable during this time period. Also, Chrysler lost significantly less than what was reported during the course of the full-year. We believe any differences are attributable due to U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP) versus International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) accounting rules. These differences include pension accounting for the UAW settlement and restructuring and purchases accounting." So, can we have a look at those books then, Mr. Private Equity Firms Don't Need to File Public Accounts? Thought not.
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From Allpar's website: "The Stuttgart-based company said the reported $2.7 billion figure, covering the period from August 4 to September 30, 2007, was calculated under European reporting standards, not by U.S. accounting standards. Daimler said that for all of 2007, Chrysler lost 870 million euros, or roughly $1.2 billion at the euro-to-dollar exchange rate that Daimler used for the third quarter. Since neither Daimler nor Chrysler would answer questions about the report, it remains unclear what percentage of Chrysler's fourth-quarter results were included in the figure."
As I undersand it (which isn't much, since I'm a marketing person), revised GAAP standards stand to prevent situations like Enron, where accounting maneuvers managed to fool people with smoke and mirrors. "Significantly less" than 2.7 billion is still a lot of freakin' money.