NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investigators have found that Adelphia Communications Corp. (ADELA) kept two sets of accounting books and inflated its subscriber data, raising concerns the firm's questionable accounting practices may be broader than originally thought, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The inquiry is also focusing heavily on the role Deloitte & Touche [DLTE.UL] played as Adelphia's auditor, the report added, with regulators taking a close look at what Deloitte knew about certain transactions that led to the company's plunge.
On its online edition Friday, the Journal said investigators had uncovered evidence that Adelphia, the No. 6 U.S. cable company, kept two sets of books for its capital expenditures, one of which was shown to Wall Street and boosted the amount the company spent to upgrade its cable systems.
Citing people familiar with the situation, the Journal said Adelphia inflated the number of its cable television subscriber by between 400,000 and 500,000, or as much as 10 percent of the company's total customer base.
One source told the Journal that the SEC is concerned that Deloitte "knew things and didn't bring them to the board's attention," this person said.
Adelphia shares were delisted on Monday following months of uncertainty after disclosing in March multibillion-dollar off-balance sheet financing deals involving the founding Rigas family.
With the bankruptcy ghost haunting Adelphia, the company is currently being probed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and two federal grand juries over possible accounting irregularities.
