Sign in / up

back to article Oracle settles court spat with fired cloud 'sales inflation whistleblower'

Oracle has reached a settlement with a former finance manager who alleged she had been fired for refusing to follow what she believed to be unlawful accounting practices that bumped up the IT giant's cloud numbers. In a filing [PDF] on Wednesday, the District Court of Northern California was told the dispute between Oracle and …

COMMENTS

Post your comment
House rules Send corrections
Add to 'My topics' unstar *
  1. Your alien overlord - fear me

    "was terminated because of her failures to meet the requirements of her role" - requirement number 1 - bump up the sales figures - doh!!!!

    18 0 Reply
    1. Steve the Cynic
      Reply Icon

      Yeah, that was my firs thought. Shame you beat me to it...

      3 0 Reply
  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    All of the traditional (some would say legacy) companies are doing this sort of thing. Try making heads or tails out of the "cloud" numbers coming out of Oracle, IBM, SAP, Microsoft, etc. They all include on premise software and more traditional revenue... the "private cloud" as VMware calls it.

    3 1 Reply
  3. earl grey
    Mushroom

    I did not lie

    'fingers crossed behind back'

    wankers

    0 1 Reply
  4. John 104

    And since it was settled out of court, that means that they are guilty as hell and gave her a payout to keep it quiet.

    13 0 Reply
    1. a_yank_lurker
      Reply Icon

      @John 104

      More likely afraid of investor civil suits if enough details got out to show Leisure Suit's minions were goosing the numbers a little much. The burden of proof in a civil suit is lower than a criminal case so the minions could get hammered financially even if criminal case is never filed.

      5 0 Reply
    2. Adam 52 Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Or it could just be that both sides decided that there was no benefit to further enriching the lawyers.

      0 0 Reply
  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    All of the traditional (some would say legacy) companies...

    I'm not sure I agree WRT Microsoft - they count Office 365 and Azure which, when I checked, are bonefide Cloud services.

    0 0 Reply
    1. ratfox
      Reply Icon

      Re: All of the traditional (some would say legacy) companies...

      In the beginning at least, Microsoft counted Office 365 licenses bundled with standard office licenses. Essentially, they told customers they were giving the Office 365 for free with the standard office (and you couldn't refuse), but then counted part of the sale for cloud services.

      1 0 Reply
  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    cloud numbers

    Pretty sure Microsoft's numbers are for Office 365 and Azure...

    0 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: cloud numbers

      Their "intelligent cloud" numbers include Windows Server licenses.

      1 0 Reply
  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I said it before...

    Defend vigorously - pay quietly.

    It seems that HR and legal exist for the sole purpose of covering up the incompetence of middle management.

    4 0 Reply
  8. ruscook

    So if this is potentially illegal accounting practices why aren't one of the SEC, DoJ, IRS all over this?

    2 0 Reply
    1. alain williams Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Where should the buck stop ?

      Surely anywhere other than the very top would be wrong. It is Larry who sets the culture and is the one who could change it.

      However: it seems accepted that those working in corporations can lie and get away with it. It is not just politicians who lie, although maybe that is the reason why nothing is done about it.

      3 0 Reply
  9. Frank N. Stein

    Isn't there some law against bumping up sales figures? Isn't that FRAUD?? Can shareholders sue for that??

    2 0 Reply
  10. Mikel

    Hush now baby don't you cry

    Here's some money to say bye bye.

    2 0 Reply
  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Please define "Cloud"

    I have worked for a couple of large players and been a Business Partner of a couple of others. The definition of cloud is so nebulous that it is very much what you want it to be. GAAP/IFRS provides clear accounting standards for things like "Assets". Hopefully, in the not too distant future, we will get clear definitions of Cloud so that we can compare results between quarters and between companies.

    0 0 Reply
  12. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    "The definition of cloud is so nebulous"

    Surely you meant the definition of nebulous is cloudy?

    0 0 Reply

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

Forgotten password ?

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like