And Now, We Must Wait Up To Five Days?

According to Mattersight's Form 8-K (on page 1) this evening, it will be perhaps as long as five days before we know how much the company lost, on a GAAP basis, per share -- on continuing operations -- for the last three years. Astonishing. This is truly two operations in each period: an addition of the dividend obligation, to the continuing operations losses in each period, then a division of that resulting figure by the outstanding shares in each period. How can that be five days' work -- when the Company's shares are trading on an inaccurate EPS calculation? [Okay, okay -- actually LPS -- not EPS -- but you get the idea. Sheesh.]

I am not some unrealistic academic, here -- I mean errors happen every day, but it is particularly telling that THIS would be Mattersight's error -- with CEO Kelly Conway so relentlessly focused on everything but actual GAAP results, for 13 years now.

Personally, I think it strains credulity to imagine that the corporate reporting staff, the controller, the CFO, the audit second, the audit lead, and the responsible partner (as well as Mr. Conway, himself -- a CPA by training!) didn't even notice that THEY ALL forgot to charge-off the accrued and unpaid dividends as an additional obligation attributable SOLELY to continuing operations -- and thus they had materially understated Mattersight's losses per share from continuing operations for all the affected periods. [I suspect TeleTech will make sharp mention of this to Mr. Conway, as well. Afterall, part of the basis for the ICS deal required that the remaining operations -- the ones that became Mattersight -- be viable, so as not to be seen as a wasting transaction.]

It would all be funny -- if it weren't so sad. And on the call, Mr. Conway went on and on about how "what matters" is the number of new pilots (contracts upon which he admits he barely covers his costs), and a host of other smoke and mirror metrics which bear scant relation to GAAP results for shareholders.

It is nearly the most baffling thing I've ever seen -- don't the shareholders care? Thirteen years?! Truly curious. More -- when the amended SEC Forms 10-K and Q are filed. In the mean time, be very careful out there.