Telecom slate clean

By PETER GRIFFIN

The Securities Commission has given Telecom's accounting methods a clean bill of health following scrutiny of the company that battered its share price.

The commission began examining Telecom's accounts last week after the Australian media quoted analysts concerned that Telecom had used accounting practices to increase its profit result.

But the commission's chairwoman, Jane Diplock, said that because Telecom was listed on the New York Stock Exchange it reported under American generally applied accounting principles as well as New Zealand principles, which differed in some areas.

However, Telecom had pointed out the differences in its financial statements.

Telecom made $28 million on the sale of bandwidth capacity in the half year to December 31, 2001, which contributed to the company posting a net profit for the period of $161 million.