Commentary: Earth To Dot Com Accountants

Can the dot-com party go on forever? Not likely. The cops have finally burst in. And they're warning investors to stop acting like intoxicated college students on spring break. It's time to hit the books.

The Securities & Exchange Commission's crackdown on the aggressive accounting practices that have taken off among many dot-com firms really began last December, when it quietly issued new guidelines to refocus corporate management and investors on those very books. To rein in what it saw as an alarming trend in inflated revenue reports, the SEC required companies using lax accounting practices to restate financial results by the end of their next fiscal year's first quarter.