HP CFO: Accounting Procedures Shield Company From Issues

Hewlett-Packard

HP CFO Robert Wayman said the company did nothing different in reporting its most recent quarterly earnings in an effort to boost its merger efforts with Compaq. Wayman said HP decided last year that it would report more information, rather than less, as it pursued its deal with Compaq.

"We instructed all of our people to be extra conservative in any judgment call," Wayman said.

Responding to suggestions from some financial analysts that HP would go out of its way to report good earnings as a means of helping the merger, Wayman said that was pointedly false.

"I feel very good about the quarter," Wayman said.

Asked if the company would change any of its accounting or reporting procedures if the merger with Compaq is approved, Wayman said it was too early to say. But he also suggested the company would err on the side of reporting more details of its finances.