Briefly

Grasso is open to repaying money

New York Embattled former New York Stock Exchange chief Richard Grasso says he is willing to give up some of his nearly $188 million pay package if the exchange apologizes for “destroying my reputation,” according to a published report.

In the current issue of Newsweek magazine, Grasso says he is keeping all of the $139.5 million he was paid in salary and pension, but would consider relinquishing $48 million in deferred pay if the exchange restores his good name.

“If I give back a dime, that’s an admission of guilt. I can’t do that,” the magazine quotes Grasso as saying. “But if they say I’m an honorable man and I did nothing wrong, it’s the end of the issue. If not, let’s go to war.”

The comments come amid growing speculation that New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer will soon file a lawsuit against Grasso seeking return of at least some of what was widely viewed as an excessive pay package.

Delta broaches subject of possible bankruptcy

Atlanta Delta Air Lines said Monday that it may have to file for bankruptcy if its pilots union doesn’t agree to significant wage cuts, the first time the struggling carrier has publicly linked the two issues.

The nation’s third-largest airline has been cautious about discussing the possibility of bankruptcy. But Delta said Monday in a quarterly report with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it might pursue Chapter 11 unless it achieves a “competitive cost structure” for pilot wages.

A spokesman for Delta acknowledged that it’s the first time such language has been used in a public filing.

Rapid Refill Ink opens in Spokane

A franchise outlet of a company that refills and sells replacement printer cartridges opened recently in downtown Spokane.

Rapid Refill Ink, owned locally by Stu Zimmerman, is at 821 W. Riverside Ave. The store hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The company provides refilled or replacement cartridges for nearly all major computer printers. The Spokane location is the eighth Rapid Refill Ink franchise in the Pacific Northwest. The seventh is in Coeur d’Alene. The company’s headquarters are in Eugene, Ore.

Zimmerman formerly owned and operated the University Pharmacy near Gonzaga University. He sold that business.

Accounting changes topic of presentation

The federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 established new financial reporting requirements for public companies in the wake of high-profile accounting scandals at companies such as Enron and WorldCom. Incorporating those requirements into the practice of accounting is the topic of a presentation Wednesday by Walter Teets, an associate professor of accounting at Gonzaga University.

Teets will discuss the “unprecedented changes” in financial reporting and corporate governance that have taken place in the past year due to passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, he said. The U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board have finished writing rules to implement those changes. Although the changes officially apply only to publicly-traded companies, they will ultimately “affect the environment all accountants work in, whether public, private, or not-for-profit,” he said.

The presentation will take place at the annual meeting of the Spokane Chapter of the Washington Society of CPAs. It costs $20 to attend and will be held from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Spokane Club, at 1002 W. Riverside. Reservations are due by 3 p.m. today and can be made by calling (509) 747-3208, or by e-mailing spokane@wscpa.org.

Federal Reserve fines Swiss bank

Washington The Federal Reserve on Monday fined Switzerland’s largest bank, UBS AG, $100 million for allegedly sending dollars to Cuba, Libya, Iran and Yugoslavia in violation of U.S. sanctions against those countries.

UBS operated a trading center for dollars in its Zurich headquarters under contract with the Federal Reserve of New York, to help the circulation of new U.S. notes and the retirement of old ones. One condition was that the Swiss bank not deliver or accept dollar notes through the depot to or from banks in countries that are under U.S. trade sanctions.

In an announcement, the Fed said that UBS had violated the agreement and that some former bank officers and employees, whom it did not name, concealed the transactions by falsifying UBS’ monthly reports to the U.S. central bank.

MCI to eliminate 7,500 jobs this year

McLean, Va. MCI, the scandal-ridden company once known as WorldCom, reported a quarterly loss of $388 million Monday and said it will eliminate 7,500 jobs this year, or about 15 percent of its work force.

The $388 million loss compared to a profit of $52 million in the year-ago quarter. The company said the weaker performance stemmed from intense price competition in the industry.

Goodyear says firms conspired on prices

Akron, Ohio Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. is suing 12 chemical companies in the United States and Europe, claiming they illegally fixed the price of a chemical used in rubber products.

The nation’s largest tire maker announced the lawsuit Monday but did not specify what compensation it is seeking.

Goodyear’s lawsuit said it buys a substantial quantity of the chemical and that from 1994 to 2002 the defendants conspired to fix its price, breaking antitrust laws.

The chemical, known as ethylene propylene diene monomer, is a raw material used to strengthen tires and other rubber products. The chemical also provides resistance to heat, oxidation, ozone and weather aging.