Stephen D. Richards is a New Zealand-born technology industry business leader who rose through the ranks of Computer Associates International, to become the Executive Vice President responsible for Worldwide Sales.
[2] As part of the Harvard Business School curriculum, A Letter from Prison[3] by Professor Eugene Soltes[4] briefly details the history of the case and Stephen Richards insights into the financial management practices that saw him imprisoned.
"[6] The fraud, "what came to be known by Computer Associates employees as a 35-day month",[10] involved backdating of contracts to prop up quarterly revenues and earnings figures to meet market expectations.
This violated Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, or GAAP, which state that revenues should not be counted until both parties have properly signed a contract.
The SEC said the goal was to meet or beat per-share earnings estimates of Wall Street analysts, a key to keeping a company's stock price rising.
"[15] On April 24, 2006 - two weeks before a scheduled trial, Stephen Richards pleaded guilty to eight felonies, including securities fraud, obstruction of justice and perjury.