Wie Goldcore schon berichtet hatte:
Gestern veroeffentlichte Goldman Sachs einen Gewinn von $1.8 Mrd fuer das erste Quartal 09. Das vierte Quartal 08 bescherte noch einen Verlust von $2.12 Mrd. Das vierte Quartal 08 umfasste die Monate September Oktober und November 2008, das erste Quartal umfasste die Monate Januar, Februar und Maerz 2009. Der Dezember faellt also ganz aus den Quartalszahlen raus. Wo ist also der Dezember geblieben ? Heute Morgen schob Goldman Sachs nach der Vorveroeffentlich der Ergebnisse fuer Q1/2009 gester Abend die Ergebnisse fuer Dezember 2008 nach: $1.02 Mrd Verlust. Goldmann Sachs begruendet das mit einer Umschaltung der Berichtsquartale.
Goldman Sachs lost $1.02 bln in December 2008
http://www.google.com/hostedne…1Wp3igsG4Mopn67RIgQ_ZfehA
Where’s December?: Goldman Sachs reported a profit of $1.8 billion in the first quarter, and plans to sell $5 billion in stock and get out of the government’s clutches, if it can.
How did it do that? One way was to hide a lot of losses in not-so-plain sight.
Goldman’s 2008 fiscal year ended Nov. 30. This year the company is switching to a calendar year. The leaves December as an orphan month, one that will be largely ignored. In Goldman’s earnings statement, and in most of the news reports, the quarter ended March 31 is compared to the quarter last year that ended in February.
The orphan month featured — surprise — lots of write-offs. The pretax loss was $1.3 billion, and the after-tax loss was $780 million.
Would the firm have had a profit if it had stuck to its old calendar, and had to include December and exclude March?
http://norris.blogs.nytimes.co…ase-of-the-missing-month/