Superior Delays Year-end Report, Orders Audit Review
by February 18, 2002 12:00 am 81 views
Superior Financial Corp. of Little Rock said Feb. 4 that its 2001 earnings report would be delayed while management and outside auditors review financial statements issued during the former comptroller’s tenure.
CEO C. Stanley Bailey said in prepared statement that the holding company for Superior Bank of Fort Smith had “strong operating results and credit quality consistent with past performance during the fourth quarter.”
The announcement projected income for 2001, not including special items, of $1.40-$1.45 diluted earnings per share. The management also declared itself to be “comfortable” with analyst estimates of $1.75-$1.85 in earnings per share for 2002.
Once the financial review is complete, Superior will announce fourth-quarter earnings and any necessary restatements from earlier quarters.
The review is related to the messy firing in November of comptroller Jeff Chism. (See commentary, p. 8).
In turn, Superior Financial in December filed suit in Sebastian County Circuit Court against Chism and his girlfriend, former electronic banking manager Teresa Bauman. That lawsuit accuses Bauman, who was fired at the end of September, of converting some $45,000 in bank funds to her own use and accuses Chism of either negligently or intentionally allowing the conversion because he was her supervisor.
Chism specifically objected to Superior’s decision not to charge the entire $3.72 million cost of converting from one software system to another against the company’s $3.4 million in third-quarter earnings. The company and its accountants at Ernst & Young decided instead to divide the expenses between the third and fourth quarter earnings reports.