SEC Requests Documents From WorldCom

WorldCom (WCOM Quote) said after the close Monday that it has received a request from the Securities and Exchange Commission for documents and information covering a number of areas.

The company said the request asks for information concerning a pretax charge associated with wholesale accounts recorded in the third quarter of 2000, disputed customer bills and sales commissions, accounting policies for goodwill, organizational charts and personnel records for former employees, loans by WorldCom to officers or directors, the integration of WorldCom and MCI's computer systems, the tracking and review of analysts' earnings estimates, and federal or state agency investigations of the company.

In a press release, WorldCom said it believes all of its policies, practices and procedures "have complied, and continue to comply, with all applicable accounting standards and laws." The company said it plans to cooperate with the SEC's inquiry and will respond to the request for information as soon as possible.

The company said it isn't aware of any information that would have led to the inquiry.

With the announcement of an SEC request, WorldCom becomes the latest company that has drawn the scrutiny of securities regulators in the wake of the Enron collapse. At a Monday morning speech at New York's Merrill Lynch Global Communications Investor Conference, Qwest (Q Quote) CEO Joe Nacchio insisted that the SEC's questions about that company's books were "nothing new."