A recent study of stock option disclosures and stock prices suggests that some companies may have committed instances of backdating into the current fiscal year, contradicting the widespread belief that backdating largely ended in 2002 with the passage of Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
A handful of companies included in the recent study, conducted by proxy research firm Glass, Lewis & Co., have disclosed that they are cooperating with the Securities and Exchange Commission and conducting their own investigations to determine whether their tardy Form 4 filings and corresponding spikes in stock prices would suggest backdating has occurred.
