Word: sec
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Dates: during 2000-2000
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...almost any standard, the best yardstick for measuring how steadily--if slowly--athletic performance has improved is the mile run. In 1900 the record for the mile was a comparatively sleepy 4 min. 12 sec. It wasn't until 1954 that Roger Bannister of Britain cracked the 4-min. mark, coming in six-tenths of a second under the charmed figure. In the half-century since, uncounted thousands of mile heats have been run, yet less than 17 additional seconds have been shaved off Bannister's record--about a third of a second per year...
...credit for the improvement goes mostly to better training and equipment, but shoes and diet can get only so good before they--and the runners--hit a wall. "It's conceivable the record could be 3 min. 30 sec. in 50 years," says American Olympic miler Steve Holman. "But bringing it down much more is a long way off." Scientists agree. In 1987 researchers at Canada's McGill University developed a mathematical model that predicted a world mile record of precisely 3 min. 29.84 sec...
None of this makes the SEC happy. The agency has launched a drive to clean up what it calls creative accounting--offenses like excessive restructuring charges, inflated one-time "acquisition charges," and most important, manipulation of revenues to produce a predictable stream of profits or mask a bad quarter. "Think about a bottle of fine wine," says SEC chairman Arthur Levitt. "You wouldn't pop the cork on that bottle before it was ready. But some companies are doing this--recognizing revenues before a sale is complete, before the product is delivered, or at a time when the customer still...
...Commission revealed Tuesday that they've charged Freeman and his cohorts with conspiracy and insider trading in the pan-national ring formed two and a half years ago in an AOL chat room. The case highlights the double-edged sword of policing an increasingly diffuse industry. On the downside, SEC investigators say their task has become more complicated as conspirators are increasingly removed from the trading floor and can profit through investors they've never met. At the same time, the feds say the Web is making it easier to track insider traders because, as Freeman is alleged to have...
...first case in which the SEC has arrested investors for conspiring online, Freeman is said to have used his position as a temp at two Manhattan brokerages to glean information on mergers and acquisitions, information he then passed on to other investors in return for 10 percent of the profits. Not that he got the full kickback - an estimated $70,000 to $110,000 is said to have flowed into his mailbox via cash stuffed in unsigned birthday cards. "The SEC has been very interested in the area of fraud over the Internet, and this case is just an extension...