SEC Charges HP Inc. With Disclosure Violations and Control Failures

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against technology company HP Inc. for misleading investors by failing to disclose the impact of sales practices undertaken in an effort to meet quarterly sales and earnings targets. HP has agreed to pay $6 million to settle the charges. According to the SEC's order, from early 2015 through the middle of 2016, in an effort to meet quarterly sales targets, regional managers at HP used a variety of incentives to accelerate, or "pull-in" to the current quarter, sales of printing supplies that they otherwise expected to materialize in later quarters. The order further finds that, in an effort to meet revenue and earnings targets, managers in one HP region sold printing supplies at substantial discounts to resellers known to sell HP products outside of the resellers' designated territories, in violation of HP policy and distributor agreements.