Whistleblower Rocks Openwave

It's almost never a good thing when a company says it's going to delay reporting their earnings.

But when it's delayed because a whistleblower is sounding alarms about the company's recent financials, watch out.

That was the unsavory situation that Openwave has found itself.

Its stock fell 6% Tuesday after it made an SEC filing that said "it will delay the filing of its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended March 31, 2008 pending the conclusion of an internal investigation being conducted ... into allegations made by an employee relating to attempts by certain members of senior management to manage financial results."

"Managing financial results" sounds like exactly what a company's management should be doing. A cynic might point out that this is proof that Openwave's management has not been managing, but it's more likely this is a very nuanced way of saying someone in the know knows something fishy about Openwave's recent numbers.

The board's audit committee -- all independent directors, and including former Intel controller Patrick Jones and ex-Palm CEO Robin Abrams -- are working with independent counsel to look into the charges, but so far "the investigation has not reached any conclusion that the company's previously issued financial statements and earnings releases were materially misleading," the company said in a statement.

Openwave details its whistle blower policy on its Web site. Infringements could be as mild as an accidental aberration from internal controls or as serious as insider trading or fraud.