35 day month

{{short description|Element of a 2002 accounting scandal}}

The "35 day month"{{cite news

|newspaper=The Washington Post

|date=September 23, 2004

|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44284-2004Sep23.html

|title=Hammer Time for Computer Associates

|quote=Former CA Executives Charged With Fraud ... Prosecutors referred to one practice as the '35-day month' because ...

|access-date=January 27, 2019

|archive-date=October 26, 2018

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181026064554/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44284-2004Sep23.html

|url-status=live

}}{{cite web |website=WSJ.com (Wall Street Journal) |title=CA, Inc. |url=http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/20070413_CA.pdf |author=W. McCracken |date=April 13, 2007 |quote=Given that the facts underlying the 35-Day Month practice at CA had ... |access-date=October 25, 2018 |archive-date=July 6, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160706022251/http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/20070413_CA.pdf |url-status=live }} was the basis of "$2.2 billion in accounting fraud"{{cite web

|website=NYTimes.com (The New York Times)

|date=November 3, 2006

|title=Ex-Leader of Computer Associates Gets 12-Year Sentence and Fine

|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/03/technology/03computer.html

|quote=... to 12 years in prison for orchestrating a $2.2 billion accounting fraud at the software company... The four-year investigation of Computer Associates, now CA,

|access-date=October 25, 2018

|archive-date=October 23, 2018

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181023184150/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/03/technology/03computer.html

|url-status=live

}}{{cite news

|newspaper=The Los Angeles Times

|date=November 3, 2006

|title=CA's former CEO gets 12 years in prison in accounting scheme

|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-nov-03-fi-kumar3-story.html

|quote=Sanjay Kumar, the former chief executive of CA Inc., was sentenced to ... in a $2.2-billion accounting fraud at the computer software company

|access-date=October 25, 2018

|archive-date=October 3, 2015

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151003200221/http://articles.latimes.com/2006/nov/03/business/fi-kumar3

|url-status=live

}}{{cite web

|website=MyNBC5.com (WPTZ-TV)

|date=March 17, 2017

|url=https://www.mynbc5.com/article/ceo-who-directed-2-2b-fraud-is-out-of-prison-after-a-decade/9149094

|title=CEO who led $2.2B fraud scandal released from prison

|quote=The former chairman and CEO of a New York software company who orchestrated a $2.2 billion accounting fraud is out of ... It now operates as CA Technologies

|access-date=October 25, 2018

|archive-date=October 26, 2018

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181026064601/https://www.mynbc5.com/article/ceo-who-directed-2-2b-fraud-is-out-of-prison-after-a-decade/9149094

|url-status=live

}}{{cite news |newspaper=InformationWeek

|date=November 6, 2006 |page=15 |title=Kumar Gets Hard Time}} regarding "events regarding an accounting scandal that started in 2002"Started in 2002, prosecuted in 2006/"four-year investigation" (NYTimes) at Computer Associates.

The company's "books were routinely kept open until revenues exceeded projected goals."{{cite web

|website=CNN.com

|date=September 22, 2004

|url=https://money.cnn.com/2004/09/22/technology/kumar/index.htm?cnn=yes

|title=CA's ex-CEO is indicted on fraud

|access-date=October 25, 2018

|archive-date=October 22, 2018

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181022105323/https://money.cnn.com/2004/09/22/technology/kumar/index.htm?cnn=yes

|url-status=live

}} Specifics were described as "a scheme to inflate sales and profits by pretending lucrative contracts were signed earlier than, in fact, they had been.{{cite web

|title=Former IT boss jailed for 12 years over '35-day month' scam

|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/former-it-boss-jailed-for-12-years-over-35-day-month-scam-422777.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181025150014/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/former-it-boss-jailed-for-12-years-over-35-day-month-scam-422777.html |archive-date=2018-10-25 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |date=November 3, 2006 |website=independent.co.uk}} To support this violation of law, faxes of contracts were "cleaned up ... by removing time stamps .."{{cite news

|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald

|date=April 25, 2006

|url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/ca-ex-ceo-pleads-guilty-to-fraud-20060425-gdnfcm.html

|title=CA ex-CEO pleads guilty to fraud

|quote=... had closed - a practice known within the company as the "35-day month" - and "cleaned up" contracts by removing time stamps from faxes.

|access-date=October 25, 2018

|archive-date=November 30, 2022

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221130154028/https://www.smh.com.au/national/ca-ex-ceo-pleads-guilty-to-fraud-20060425-gdnfcm.html

|url-status=live

}}

The most immediate impact was that it "cost investors hundreds of millions of dollars," although unlike the matters of Worldcom and Enron, to which it was compared, "Computer Associates - since renamed CA Inc - did not go bankrupt." An overview by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania wrote that corporate directors, upon seeing signs of "35-day month ... 'the three-day window ... (and) flash period" "should be especially vigilant."{{cite web

|title=How Serious Was the Fraud at Computer Associates?

|url=http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/how-serious-was-the-fraud-at-computer-associates

|quote=... termed "the 35-day month," "the three-day window" and the "flash period. ... noting that directors should be especially vigilant at such times."

|access-date=2018-10-25

|archive-date=2018-10-26

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181026104331/http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/how-serious-was-the-fraud-at-computer-associates/

|url-status=live

}}