1.   In other cases, executives had inflated earnings by manipulating the amounts set aside for future costs like loan losses, sales returns or warranty costs.

2.   It has become a target for a criminal investigation looking into, among other things, whether insiders profited by inflating the value of the stock with inflated earnings.

3.   Mercury last month fired KPMG Peat Marwick LLP, its outside auditor during the period of the inflated earnings.

4.   Much of that decline came after the Securities and Exchange Commission said it was looking into whether RadiSys had inflated earnings, as the suit alleged.

5.   The decline began last Thursday, when rumors arose that the company might have inflated earnings and speculation began that executives would resign.

6.   The SEC filed a complaint against a Nevada company called Softpoint, saying it had, among other things, inflated earnings and paid kickbacks to brokers.