The number of financial restatements rose in 2010, after three years of decline, according to a new study from Audit Analytics. The new uptick was driven by non-accelerated filers.

In addition, although the quantity increased slightly, the severity of the restatements remained low, AA stresses.

Want to know how badly a company's stock will be hit when it announces an earnings restatement? Check out what the insiders were doing.

A new academic study found the restatement's impact on the stock price depends, to a significant extent, on whether company insiders were buying or selling the stock during the misstatement period.

The former chief financial officer and founder and former CEO of Vitesse Semiconductor were charged for their roles in an accounting and securities fraud scheme.

Louis Tomasetta, the co-founder and former CEO and former CFO and Executive Vice President Eugene Hovanec , were charged with securities fraud, making false entries in the books and records of a corporation, making false filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and conspiracy for their roles in a scheme to manipulate Vitesse's reported financial statements, according to Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

The number of financial reporting issues is on the rise this year, exceeding multi-year lows set last year.

In the first nine months of 2010, about 20 percent more companies filed restatements to correct accounting errors or reported internal-control weaknesses than in the first three quarters of 2009, according to a new study published by Glass Lewis.

It is a reflexive action, almost seemingly involuntary.

A company restates prior results for some reason. Investors then dump the stock, which in turn plummets in price.

The CEO and former CFO of Navistar International have agreed to return more than $2.3 million as part of a broad settlement between the company and the Securities and Exchange Commission stemming from Navistar's massive restatement covering 2002 to 2005.

The SEC also settled with five other current and former Navistar employees, including four former finance executives.

Is there anyone at Telephone and Data Systems and its United States Cellular unit who can get their financials right the first time around?

Last week the telecom companies announced that they planned to revise prior results dating back to 2007.

If a company announces a restatement, chances are Deloitte & Touche is the auditor if it were a Big Four firm. At least that is the conclusion of a recent analysis of financial reporting issues conduct by Glass Lewis, the governance research firm.

It found that since 2007, more companies audited by D&T restated financial reports to correct errors than those examined by any other of the largest audit firm. D&T also had the highest restatement rate among Big Four firms in each of the last three years and through the first quarter of 2010.

Are companies become more lax with their accounting practices? It seems so.

According to an analysis of first quarter regulatory filings, Glass, Lewis found a surge in financial-reporting issues, a sharp reversal from recent trends.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing to take some sort of action against several former employees at Dell stemming from accounting and financial reporting matters dating back to 2001.

The computer maker said in a regulatory filing the individuals received "Wells Notices," which indicates the SEC staff has made a preliminary decision to recommend that the SEC begin a civil or administrative action against the former employees. Dell also said it is possible that other individuals have received or will receive such notices, although it did not provide more details to this cryptic reference.