ComScore to Restate Results Over 'Nonmonetary' Revenue

Internet analytics company comScore Inc. said it had improperly accounted for some revenue and will restate its financial results for the past three years, according to a securities filing late on Thursday.

The announcement came after an investigation by the audit committee of comScore's board which blamed "errors in judgment" for the problems and said it "cannot support" the company's accounting for so-called nonmonetary transactions, the filing said.

The company said it would restate financial results for 2013, 2014 and 2015. ComScore hasn't submitted its annual securities filing for 2015 or its quarterly security filings for the first half of 2016, and said it can't predict when its restated financial statements will be completed.

A year ago, The Wall Street Journal called attention to comScore's practice of reporting nonmonetary revenue, which came with no cash attached and whose value was based on fair-value estimates. On Feb. 19, the company said it had received a message about its accounting and would be commencing an investigation.

ComScore measures audiences across the internet, TV and film and has tried to position itself as a competitor to Nielsen. In January, it merged with TV-measurement rival Rentrak. Advertising giant WPP holds a roughly 20% stake in the combined company.

The board investigation concluded that revenue and expenses for the nonmonetary agreements, which involved swapping data with other companies, shouldn't have been recognized, according to the securities filing.

ComScore said its 2015 revenue was $339.9 million—$29 million less than the figure it had previously reported. The nonmonetary transactions didn't have a major effect on the company's profits because it reported expenses related to them. Revenue has been the most important metric for analysts and investors in comScore, which hasn't reported an annual profit in recent years.

The audit committee also "concluded that these transactions have been recorded in error" in comScore's accounting practices and blamed "internal control deficiencies." Additional, potentially material, accounting adjustments may be necessary if these deficiencies extended to transactions beyond the scope of the investigation, the filing said.

Nonmonetary revenue helped boost comScore's share price at a point last year, allowing its top management to reap millions in performance-based stock grants. The company's stock price just barely cleared the bar for these grants to vest.

The release of the audit committee's findings comes a week after comScore announced the resignation of former chief executive Serge Matta and former chief financial officer Melvin Wesley. The two were demoted last month and replaced by other company executives.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 15, 2016 20:35 ET (00:35 GMT)

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