MCI said today it has submitted its 2002 annual report and has completed the restatement of financial results for 2000 and 2001 as it moved to put what is believed to be the largest Chapter 11 bankruptcy ever behind it.
Restating results for 2000 and 2001 had the effect of making a cumulative reduction to previously reported pretax income of fully $74.4 billion, including impairment charges totaling $59.8 million, according to MCI, formerly known as WorldCom.
The 2000-2002 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission "culminates the largest and most complex financial restatement ever undertaken," said Mr Bob Blakely, MCI's chief financial officer.
The company's net loss on a restated basis amounted to $48.9 billion in 2002, followed by $15.6 billion in 2001 and $9.2 billion in 2002. Also as restated, MCI had $39.3 billion in revenue for 2000, $37.7 billion for 2001 and $32.2 billion for 2002.
MCI said that it expects to emerge from bankruptcy next month and that work continues in the meantime on completing its 2003 financial statements.
The restatement process called for reauditing, revalidating and correcting accounting records and reviewing the accounting for major acquisitions dating back to 1993, when the
now-indicted Mr Bernie Ebbers began an unprecedented string of deals that turned MCI into one of the biggest players in US telecommunications by the end of the decade.
But amid persistent accounting questions, the company fell from grace with investors and was forced to file for Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy protection from creditors in July 2002 after evidence of massive fraud surfaced. Mr Ebbers was indicted by federal authorities on securities fraud charges last week.