TALX's interactive communication solutions enabled an organization's employees, customers, vendors and business partners to access, input and update information stored in databases without human assistance.
In the early 2000s, the employment and income verification service, The Work Number, as it later became known, became the revenue and profit growth engine for the company.
[citation needed] In 2007, TALX was acquired by Equifax, one of the big three credit reporting agencies, in a transaction valued at $1.4 billion.
[10] The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) conducted an investigation into TALX's August 2001 secondary offering of common stock and 2001 financial results.
Separately, William W. Canfield, the company's president and chief executive officer, reached an agreement in principle with the SEC staff to settle its ongoing investigation against him in a related matter.
The SEC alleged that Craig N. Cohen, who resigned in January 2004, violated antifraud and other federal securities laws by causing TALX to meet its 2001 financial target through fraudulent accounting practices.
Cohen had served as chief financial officer from January 1994 to May 2003, and was vice president of application services and software from May 1999 to May 2003.
[citation needed] He resigned at the same time TALX said it would restate its earnings for the fiscal years 1999 to 2003 to correct errors in the way it accounted for revenue.