THOR INDUSTRIES SETTLES WITH SEC

The following is an excerpt from the SEC web site:

Litigation Release No. 21966 / May 13, 2011
Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Release No. 3280 / May 13, 2011
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Thor Industries, Inc., and Mark C. Schwartzhoff, Case No. 1:11-cv-00889-RMC. (D.D.C., filed May 12, 2011)
SEC Charges Thor Industries With Violating Commission Cease-and-Desist Order and Charges Former VP of Finance of Thor Subsidiary With Securities Fraud
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a settled enforcement action in United States District Court for the District of Columbia charging Ohio-based producer of recreational vehicles Thor Industries, Inc. with issuer reporting, record-keeping, and internal control violations. Thor has agreed to be permanently enjoined and to pay a $1 million civil penalty for violating a 1999 Commission cease-and-desist Order prohibiting violations of the books and records and internal controls provisions. In the Matter of Thor Industries, Inc., Exchange Act Release No. 42021 (Oct. 18, 1999). The SEC also charged Mark C. Schwartzhoff, a former Vice President of Finance at Thor’s Dutchmen Manufacturing, Inc. subsidiary, with securities fraud and other violations. Schwartzhoff has agreed to be permanently enjoined, to be permanently barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company, and to be permanently suspended from appearing or practicing before the Commission as an accountant. Schwartzhoff also agreed to pay disgorgement of $394,830, which shall be deemed satisfied by the entry of a restitution order against Schwartzhoff in a parallel criminal case.
The SEC’s complaint alleges that from approximately December 2002 to January 2007, while serving as the senior financial officer of Dutchmen, one of Thor’s principal operating subsidiaries, Schwartzhoff engaged in a fraudulent accounting scheme to understate Dutchmen’s cost of goods sold in order to avoid recognizing inventory costs that were not reflected in Dutchmen’s financial accounting system. Instead of properly recording increased cost of goods sold, Schwartzhoff concealed the costs in various balance sheet accounts by making baseless manual journal entries to falsify the financial statements and other records he provided to Thor. To cover-up his false entries, the complaint alleges that Schwartzhoff created false supporting documentation and false account reconciliations. Schwartzhoff also submitted false documents and information to Thor’s external auditor.
As alleged in the complaint, Schwartzhoff’s fraud overstated Dutchmen’s pre-tax income by nearly $27 million from fiscal year 2003 to the second quarter of fiscal 2007, and allowed him to obtain nearly $300,000 in ill-gotten bonuses. In June 2007, Thor filed restated financial statements for fiscal years 2004 to 2006, each of the quarters of fiscal 2005 and 2006, and the first quarter of fiscal 2007, reducing its pre-tax income by approximately $26 million in the aggregate.
The SEC’s complaint further alleges that Thor failed to maintain accurate books and records and adequate internal accounting controls in violation of a 1999 Commission cease-and-desist Order. The Order directed Thor to cease and desist from committing future books and records and internal controls violations of Sections 13(b)(2)(A) and 13(b)(2)(B) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”), based on similar misconduct and internal control deficiencies that occurred over four years at a different Thor subsidiary.
The complaint alleges that Thor’s failure to implement adequate internal controls after the 1999 Order provided Schwartzhoff the opportunity to commit his fraud without detection. In particular, Thor failed to adequately implement and verify certain key segregation of duties within accounting and financial functions at Dutchmen, which allowed Schwartzhoff to have unfettered access rights to Dutchmen’s accounting system, the ability to create, enter and approve manual journal entries, and the ability to create and approve account reconciliations. As a result, Schwartzhoff was able to make fraudulent journal entries in various accounts and to disguise these entries through account reconciliations and supporting documents that he falsified. In addition, as alleged in the complaint, Thor failed adequately to monitor and verify account reconciliations and account information that Schwartzhoff submitted in reporting Dutchmen’s financial results. Thor also failed to implement an effective internal audit function for Dutchmen.
As the SEC’s complaint alleges, after Schwartzhoff's fraud came to light, Thor concluded that the internal control failures at Dutchmen constituted a material weakness in Thor’s internal controls over financial reporting. Thor also determined that similar lack of segregation of duties existed in varying degrees at each of its subsidiaries. For example, senior accounting officers (Controllers and Vice Presidents of Finance) at numerous subsidiaries had the ability to create, enter, and approve journal entries and reconciliations in accounts such as accounts receivable, accounts payable, and cash. At all but one subsidiary, various individuals had inappropriate access rights to accounting and information systems, including “super user” access by senior accounting officers at some subsidiaries. In addition, the complaint alleges Thor also determined that it lacked sufficient corporate level monitoring of account reconciliations for all of its subsidiaries.
Without admitting or denying the allegations in the complaint, Thor has consented to the entry of a final judgment: (1) requiring it to comply with the 1999 cease-and-desist Order; (2) permanently enjoining it from violating Sections 13(a), 13(b)(2)(A), and 13(b)(2)(B) of the Exchange Act and Rules 12b-20, 13a-1, and 13a-13 thereunder; (3) ordering it to pay a $1 million penalty pursuant to Exchange Act Section 21(d)(3) for violating the 1999 Order; and (4) ordering it to hire an independent consultant to review and evaluate certain of its internal controls and record-keeping policies and procedures.
Without admitting or denying the allegations in the complaint, Schwartzhoff has consented to the entry of a final judgment: (1) permanently enjoining him from violating Sections 10(b) and 13(b)(5) of the Exchange Act and Rules 10b-5, 13b2-1, and 13b2-2 thereunder, and from aiding and abetting violations of Exchange Act Sections 13(a), 13(b)(2)(A) and 13(b)(2)(B) and Rules 12b-20, 13a-1 and 13a-13 thereunder; (2) ordering him to pay disgorgement of $299,805 plus prejudgment interest of $95,025, for a total of $394,830, with payment of this amount to be deemed satisfied by the entry of a restitution order against Schwartzhoff in a parallel criminal case that is equal to or greater than $394,830; and (3) permanently barring him from serving as an officer or director. Schwartzhoff also consented to the issuance of an order pursuant to Rule 102(e) of the Commission’s Rules of Practice, permanently suspending him from appearing or practicing before the Commission as an accountant.
These settlements are subject to the approval of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The settlement with Thor takes into account the company’s self-reporting and significant cooperation in the SEC’s investigation.
Separately, on May 12, 2011, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana filed a related criminal action against Schwartzhoff, and Schwartzhoff agreed to plead guilty to an Information charging him with one count of wire fraud and to pay restitution of approximately $1.9 million.”