CURRENT ACCOUNT: The recovery plan at Elan continues apace, amazing the market with its speed and efficiency. Analysts say the time has come to look forward, not back, and to concentrate on what will remain of Elan after it "recovers" rather than what will be left behind.

One thing the company's management would love to forget as it emphasises the potential of its product pipeline is the small matter of a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into Elan's accounting practices. The inquiry, the second of the company's history, began exactly a year ago.

At the time, Elan management denied any impropriety and said it hoped for a "quick resolution". Twelve months on, it continues to dismiss talk of wrongdoing but the chances of a speedy finish to the inquiry have faded entirely.

Elan executives even seem to have a touch of sympathy for the US regulator, which has been overwhelmed over the past year by sheer volume of investigative activity. No timeframe has been set for the conclusion of the SEC's probe into Elan, a factor viewed as an "overhang" on the stock.

But there is a theory that the longer the SEC refrains from reaching a conclusion on Elan, the more likely the firm is to hasten towards the other side of its self-imposed recovery process. Over the past year, management has made drastic moves to simplify Elan's business model and its balance sheet, shedding along the way many controversial accounting practices likely to have been of most interest to the SEC.

The further the firm moves from its past, the more irrelevant any punishment could become. Perhaps a "quick resolution" was not the thing to hope for after all.