Apple Computer's board of directors has voiced support for chief executive Steve Jobs after the company restated its earnings back to 2002. A special committee was set up to investigate the case, which involved the granting of stock options.
'The special committee, its independent counsel and forensic accountants have performed an exhaustive investigation of Apple's stock option granting practices,' said former US vice president Al Gore, chair of the special committee, and Jerome York, chair of Apple's audit and finance committee.
The joint statement added that the board was confident that the company had corrected the problems that led to the restatement, and had 'complete confidence' in Steve Jobs.
Apple said it had found additional costs of $84m linked to stock options, including $4m and $7m in fiscal years 2006 and 2005 respectively. The figure arose from certain stock option grants made between 1997 and 2002 only, Apple said.
Apple launched its own internal investigation into stock options backdating, but some reports had raised the possibility of civil or criminal charges if documents were falsified.
