Halliburton is a major provider of engineering services, particularly to the energy sector. A current SEC investigation is investigating Halliburton's accounting practices on cost overruns on construction jobs. The former CEO of Halliburton, who was in charge when those accounting practices were introduced, is Dick Cheney, currently Vice President of the United States. A recently filed suit alleges that Mr. Cheney conspired, along with others at Halliburton, to file false financial statements and thereby mislead investors. The suit claims Halliburton's deceptive accounting procedures led to overstatements of revenue amounting to as much as $445 million in a three-year period during Mr. Cheney's tenure as CEO.
On July 25, 2000, the day after Mr. Bush selected Mr. Cheney as his Vice Presidential running mate, Halliburton stock sold at $42. Today it sells at $13.
Arthur Anderson LLP, formerly one of the "Big Five" international accounting firms, is today in disarray and probable dissolution. It was convicted of obstruction of justice for destroying Enron-related documents. It was also the accounting firm for WorldCom, Qwest, and Halliburton. In 1996 Mr. Cheney made a promotional videotape for Anderson. "One of the things I like that they do for us is that, in effect, I get good advice, if you will, from their people based upon how we're doing business and how we're operating, over and above," Mr. Cheney said, "just sort of the normal by-the-books audit arrangement." Arthur Anderson was also the accountant for a small corporation named for Harken Energy. Therein lies a tale. Fifteen years ago, when George W. Bush was a businessman faced with fiscal failure, Harken Energy bought Spectrum 7, a small company of which Bush was then CEO. Since Spectrum 7 was unprofitable and saddled with debt, the deal brought Harken little gain but the CEO's connections to his father - who happened to be the President of the United States.
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