Apple delays SEC filing for stock option probe

Apple has postponed its quarterly financial filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), due to a review of stock option grants and an anticipated restatement of previous filings.

The information became public on Friday in a filing Apple made with the SEC. Scores of tech companies, including silicon.com publisher CNET Networks, are under federal investigation over the possible manipulation of the timing of stock option grants.

Apple, which announced in late June that it found questionable stock option grants for the period between 1997 and 2001, noted that its internal investigation is still ongoing.

Apple said its SEC filing on Friday: "Based on the evidence of irregularities discovered to date, management has concluded, and the audit committee of the board of directors agrees, that the company will likely need to restate its historical financial statements."

Apple has not yet determined the amount of the charges or the related tax and accounting consequences.

The now-delayed SEC filing, called a 10-Q, was supposed to follow Apple's release of its third-quarter results last month. After companies announce their quarterly results publicly, they must later file a much more detailed report with the SEC. Apple said it will file its more detailed report once its internal investigation is complete.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported it had found in a review of regulatory filings that several options grants to top executives at Apple were dated just before sharp increases in its stock between 1997 and 2001.

Dawn Kawamoto writes for CNET News.com