FRRP raps Wilmington put option accounting
Wilmington recorded options as a contingent liability rather than as a liability.
Wilmington Group, the owners of journalists’ trade magazine Press Gazette,
has been forced to issue an ‘adjustment’ to its accounts after the Financial
Reporting Review Panel told it to correct its reporting of financial
instruments.
The panel decided that its recording of ‘put options’ – a contract entailing
an obligation for the writer to buy shares at a certain price – was incorrect.
Wilmington had recorded the options as contingent liabilities rather than as
liabilities.
The adjustment, announced with the preliminary results today, increased the
company’s liabilities from £59.3m to £65.6m.
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