Shares in Skillsoft, the online education company which merged with Irish-owned Smartforce in September, have fallen by more than 34 per cent on the Nasdaq today following a company announcement saying it would be restating its accounts for the last three years.
Skillsoft said it will restate the financial results of Smartforce for the period 1999 through the first half of this year.
The company announced that it had discovered "several accounting issues" in Smartforce's pre-merger statements, primarily related to how the company recognised revenue from its contracts.
Skillsoft said the restatements would not affect its current or future operating results, but added that it will now delay releasing its third-quarter earnings release.
The company announced last month that is was seeking up to 140 lay-offs at its headquarters in Dublin following the merger.
Skillsoft announced it was seeking redundancies in October. The bulk of the lay-offs at the Clonskeagh research and development centre are being sought among workers in its product development department.
But redundancies are expected throughout the Dublin headquarters, which employs 330 people. It laid off 80 workers in Dublin in early summer.
Founded in the mid-1980s as CBT Systems, Skillsoft was one of the first Irish companies to list on the Nasdaq stock exchange. At the height of the IT boom it employed more than 500 in Clonskeagh.
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/2693e910-3117-4a22-aacf-74cecf13edc4.png)